Big Hero Mer: The Seaquel
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: It's summer vacation, and there's no better place for the two half-mer brothers, Hiro and Tadashi, and all their friends to be celebrating than the beach. But danger strikes when the wrong person discovers the mers' secret, and the boys may have to get some help from a most unexpected source. (Fred/Tadashi, Fredashi; Hiro/Ezra Bridger: Hezra; M for implied fluff) Big Hero Mer pt 3
1. Chapter 1

"Clearing out your office for the summer, Mr. Hamada?"

Tadashi jumps momentarily in surprise before turning to the door and smiling when he sees the familiar figure standing there.

" _Hai, sensei!_ " he agrees with a warm smile. It was still hard for him to believe sometimes that Robert Callaghan, the man who had been his hero for as long as he could remember, was now his mentor and even someone he could almost consider a father figure (something he'd never really experienced before as his own father had died when he was very young and hadn't been particularly warm or close to him during the time that he was alive.)

"Well, you deserve a nice, long break after all the hard work you've put in," the professor says, coming into the office and leaning against the desk. "Any plans?"

"Not a whole lot set in stone," Tadashi admits. "Probably working on some inventions that I've been tinkering around with but haven't actually been able to work on as much as I'd like to with classes and everything."

"As much as I appreciate your dedication, make sure that you do get some rest in-even the greatest inventors need time to relax, and sometimes they get their best ideas while they're doing nothing at all," Callaghan gently reminds him.

"Oh, trust me, Fred's making sure I do get in some r&r," Tadashi chuckles. "He's taking the whole group down to his family's beach house for a week-kind of a forced vacation!"

"Well, that location does seem appropriate for you," Callaghan says softly.

"S-Sir?" Tadashi instantly feels a bit of panic in his chest, wondering what exactly the other man meant by that.

"With your research-yours and your brother's," Callaghan answers calmly. "Being around the ocean might give you some ideas for both your projects."

"O-Oh, yes, of course!" Tadashi replies, trying not to seem too relieved. The truth was that Callaghan's words, even if they had actually been meant innocently, were completely true. Visiting the ocean was a completely fitting trip for the elder Hamada because of his very important secret-namely, that he was actually a merman. Whether due to some mer in his ancestry, a family curse, or something else entirely, Tadashi had been born with a silver fish tail instead of legs like his human parents had been. The first eighteen years of his life had been spent in a swimming pool in his family's ancestral mansion where he'd been hidden away from the rest of the world to prevent him from getting taken away to be studied in some scientist's laboratory or put on display in a zoo as a freak. But all of that had changed the day the recently hired houseboy, Fred Lee, had stumbled into his private sanctuary. There had been an instant spark between them when they'd met, and, despite his family's initial reluctance, Tadashi and Fred had started dating and fallen in love over the course of the summer, culminating in a true love's kiss-the fanboy had managed to take Tadashi on a tour of his dream school, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, by pushing him in a wheelchair and hiding the mer's tail under a special moisturizer, and something about helping him fulfill that dream had been enough to create necessary magic for it. The initial kiss had finally given Tadashi the freedom he'd been missing out on all those years by turning his tail into a pair of human legs, but it soon became apparent that, depending on his emotions, his body would erratically switch back and forth from mer to human. With practice, he'd learned to control the transformation and could now hold either state with ease. Unfortunately, there had been an incident during his learning period that had almost ruined everything that he and his family had been working for for his entire life.

Tadashi could still remember the Expo like it was only yesterday. In order to get into SFIT, incoming students had to participate in a school sponsored exposition where they showed off some project or technology that they'd been working on. Students who impressed the judges gained acceptance into their program of choice, and professors sometimes chose students who really impressed them to come study directly under them. Both Hiro and Tadashi were determined to get into the lab run by their hero, Professor Callaghan (whom they had met once on their tour of SFIT), and so they had worked tirelessly to make their projects as good as they could get them before the Expo. Their other friends that they had met on the campus tour, GoGo, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi (all nicknamed by Fred and who actually knew about Tadashi's secret due to an incident on the tour where they had accidentally seen the mer's tail), all came over on most days to work on their own projects and critique each other's work. It was honestly a lot of fun, and by the night of the Expo, they were all confident that they were all going to ace their presentations. Little did they know of the near accident that was about to occur.

GoGo's, Honey Lemon's, and Wasabi's projects all went off without a hitch, and Hiro's microbots absolutely blew the judges away. Tadashi couldn't have been more excited for his friends, and he'd almost squished his brother to death in the tight bear hug he'd pulled him into after he'd gotten off the stage. Then it was time for his own presentation.

Due to the nature of his project, he'd requested and received special permission to use the university's pool to demonstrate his robot's unique abilities.

"Showtime," he whispers to the red suitcase next to him as he watches his little brother, who had volunteered to be his assistant for the presentation (being part mer, even without a tail, if something went wrong he had less a chance of getting into any water-related troubles than the others), swim out to the middle of the pool and then give him a thumbs up to let him know that he was ready to begin.

"This is Baymax," Tadashi says to the judges, trying not to appear too nervous as he gestures to the red case. "My water rescue bot. Thousands of lives are lost every year in water related accidents, often because the victim is not noticed by others until it is too late or because they are in a situation where is too dangerous for another human to try to reach them. Baymax, being a robot, eliminates the risk of losing human lives while trying to save another person in danger. Beyond that, I am currently working to make Baymax sensitive enough to be able to detect sounds of human distress and automatically activate upon hearing them to begin rescue protocols. This function will cut down the amount of time it takes for the endangered swimmer to receive help-precious seconds that could very well save lives. My brother, Hiro, is here tonight to help demonstrate Baymax's unique abilities. Hiro, are your ready?"

"Ready!" Hiro agrees with a grin and a wave before beginning to splash in the water and shouting, "Help! Help!"

Tadashi steps back and watches nervously as the power button on Baymax's case lights up and then the case unfolds, the robot within beginning to inflate. The truth was that half of the young man's brain was stuck on fighting the instinct to jump into the water and rescue Hiro himself-despite legends about sirens luring sailors to their deaths, the truth was that mermaids and mermen, at least in the Hamada family, were duty bound to protect and rescue anyone, human or otherwise, who came into danger in their watery domain. Maybe it was meant to make up for the sins of their siren cousins. Maybe it was just that they came from a special branch of mers that were related dolphins, creatures who often helped humans who were in danger. Whatever it was, the instinct was tightly bound into Tadashi's very DNA, and that made it very difficult to fight. Still, the mer forces himself to remain calm, reminding himself that Hiro wasn't actually in danger and that, even if he was, Baymax was already on the task of rescuing him. That's why he'd invented the robot in the first place, right? To help save others! And he had to give the robot a chance to do his job.

"As you can see, Baymax is an inflatable robot, which makes him both compact and easy for storage when he's not in use," Tadashi says, working hard to focus on his prepared speech. "This quality also gives him buoyancy in the water, making it possible for him to be used a flotation device." His words were made evident as the robot neatly dives into the water and starts propelling itself across the pool's surface towards Hiro. "Not to say that he can't function underwater-should a victim go beneath the surface, he can release enough air to allow himself to sink to the proper depth while his solid skeleton allows him to keep functioning properly." Baymax does just that as Hiro helpfully dives below the surface, the robot quickly sinking to his level. "And, as soon as he has his rescue-ee safely in hand, he re-inflates to quickly bring them back to the surface and back to dry land." He grins as Baymax perfectly executes his functions, bringing Hiro back to the side of the pool within seconds.

"If I'm allowed to come here to SFIT, I hope to continue working on Baymax to give him added functions, such being able to provide respiration to swimmers while still in the water and performing basic CPR, maybe even executing other basic medical functions once they're back on dry land that could contribute to saving lives. This is my project, and I thank you for your consideration." He gives a quick bow before glancing over at Hiro, who was grinning over at him, telling him what he already knew-that the presentation had gone amazingly.

"Very impressive, Mr. Hamada," Professor Callaghan, the head of the judging panel reviewing his project, says, giving him a pleased nod. "And how does one deactivate Baymax?"

"Oh, right!" Tadashi blushes, realizing that in his excitement he'd forgotten that very important factor. "Baymax, would you like to show them?"

The robot nods briefly before turning to Hiro and saying in its chirpy recorded voice, "I cannot deactivate until you tell me that you are satisfied with your care."

"In that case, I am extremely satisfied with my care!" Hiro tells him with a grin.

Baymax nods, apparently convinced that his work was done, before returning to his case and deflating.

"Well, as long as no one else has any further comments, I think I can safely speak for all of us by saying that we would be honored to have both you and Baymax here at SFIT," Callaghan tells Tadashi with a warm smile.

"O-Oh my gosh… _Arigatou gozaimasu_ -I mean, thank you!" Tadashi cries, excitement flooding his chest-he'd done it! He'd actually done it! He'd gotten in! This was a lifetime of dreams all coming true in one night!

"And may I also say that, with the kind of work I've seen the two of you putting on display tonight, I would be very happy to have both of you working directly under me in my lab this fall," Callaghan adds, handing both Hiro and Tadashi official-looking letters, sealed with the SFIT logo.

"No. Way," Hiro breathes, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the letter in awe.

"T-Thank you so much, sir," Tadashi manages to get out, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Don't thank me-you've more than earned this," Callaghan answers warmly. "Keep up the great work, and I see wonderful things in your futures."

"Maybe even positions someday at my company," a man dressed in a well-tailored suit adds, coming over to them and smiling.

"A-Alistair Krei!" Hiro squeaks, and Tadashi could completely understand his excitement-this man was one of the most successful students that SFIT had ever had and had gone on to create a flourishing company that specialized in military grade weapons, as well as many other more benign forms of technology which had actually gone on to help thousands of people (perhaps in an attempt to balance out their less humanitarian efforts?)

"We'd certainly love to have you!" agrees the petite woman who was playfully holding onto his arm. Tadashi instantly recognizing her as Abigail, the girl who had led his and Hiro's tour of SFIT only a month earlier and also Professor Callaghan's daughter. "I work in the aeronautics division, and we're always looking for fresh minds to help us 'shape the future', as Alistair likes to put it!"

"Thank you for the offer," Tadashi says with a smile as he finally starts coming down from his fanboy high. "But actually, Hiro and I are planning to open our own company someday."

"Yeah, you'd better watch out for us, we're going to be your biggest competition!" Hiro adds with a cocky grin.

"I'll keep that in mind," Krei chuckles. "Still, if you ever change your minds, my offer still stands!"

"We'll keep that in mind," Tadashi promises, although he was confident that he and Hiro would soon make the name Hamada even bigger than Krei Tech.

"Well, it is getting late, and, even if you are our last presentation for the night, we won't keep you," Callaghan tells the two brothers, gently cutting in. "I can see your friends are all eagerly waiting for you by the door," he adds, gesturing to where the rest of the group was not-so-subtly peeking into the gymnasium, obviously trying to see how things had gone.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, excited to go tell his friends the good news and head home for the celebration Aunt Cass had undoubtedly prepared for them.

He and Hiro were about halfway to the door when he realized that he had accidentally left Baymax by the pool.

"I'll be right back!" he tells his younger sibling.

"Want me to come with you?" Hiro asks.

"Nah, keep going, I'll meet you at the door," Tadashi promises, turning back around and heading for the pool.

If he hadn't turned around, maybe things wouldn't have happened like they did. If he'd thought to bring Baymax with him, he could have just headed home, his life and perfect little world still intact. But life doesn't always go the way one plans.

Callaghan and Krei were a little ways away from the pool, their backs turned to it and talking about something Tadashi couldn't hear-probably the most promising students they'd seen that night. Abigail, however, seemed to have noticed Baymax still sitting by the pool and had headed over to retrieve the robot. Unfortunately, her footwear choice for the night-high-heeled sandals which fastened around her ankles by only the thinnest of straps-was not ideal for being in a setting with water, and due to the amount of splashing that had happened in the general area, there were tons of puddles around, making the already slick tile even more slippery. Tadashi almost sensed it before it happened-her foot came down in a particularly tricky patch of water and, instead of making purchase with the floor, she slipped, and within moments she was falling into the pool.

There were so many logical reasons that Tadashi shouldn't have gone after her. For one thing, it was likely that she could swim, even though she was weighed down by regular clothes, and she probably could have made it to the surface on her own. For another, Baymax was right there and would have activated the moment he heard any sounds of distress. But unfortunately the man's mind still had not fully recovered from resisting going in to rescue Hiro earlier and so his mer instincts were already piqued. When he saw Abigail fall in, his brain completely shut down and he didn't even think twice about diving in after her. It didn't come back online until he had her safely back to the surface and onto dry land. He didn't even realize until he was having difficulty getting himself back out of the pool that he'd done something extremely stupid and dangerous. In his heightened emotional state, his body had switched forms and his tail was very much evident. He needed to change back _now_ , before anyone saw-

But it was too late. Abigail, still dripping and slightly in shock from her fall, was gaping down at him with a look of utter disbelief on her face. Within moments, the mer's fate was sealed as both her father and Krei hurry over to check on the young woman and, within moments of looking over to thank her "savior", discover his true nature.

"What on Earth-?" Krei gasps as he sees Tadashi's silver tail flashing in the water. "T-The boy's half fish!"

Tadashi instantly starts to backpedal-maybe if he could get across the pool, he could climb out on the other side and make a run for it! But in his panicked state, he could tell that he wasn't going to be getting rid of his tail anytime soon. Already he could see the expression on Krei's face, could tell exactly the type of calculations he was making-Tadashi would probably be the greatest scientific finding of the century, if not the millenia. Professor Callaghan's face was a completely blank slate-the elder Hamada had no idea what might be going on in his head, but he could only guess that it would not end well for him.

"Tadashi!" The merman's head jerks up as he hears a voice calling his name-Hiro! For a moment he feels a spark of hope in his chest, but it's quickly doused by fear-no, if they knew the truth about him, it would only be a short leap to his little brother, and even without a tail he'd probably be taken as well! He wanted to try to call out to him, to tell him to make a run for it, but his voice didn't seem to want to work and he could only watch helplessly as his younger sibling runs closer and closer to his doom.

When Hiro skids to a stop at the pool's edge, he quickly takes in the situation, and although there is panic in his eyes, he manages to keep his expression as neutral as Callaghan's was. Everyone seemed frozen, unsure of what to say or do next. And then suddenly the younger boy does the last thing that Tadashi expects-he lets out an annoyed sounding groan before drawling, "Wow, really, Tadashi? You couldn't resist showing off our last piece of tech, could you? And without me even being here to take part of the credit!"

"E-Excuse me?" Krei sputters, and Tadashi honestly wanted to ask much the same thing although he was doing his best to just keep quiet and go along with whatever plan his otouto was apparently hatching in that little genius mind of his.

"All right, so we had this project cooked up in case we needed a little extra 'wow' factor, although we were pretty sure we couldn't submit a joint entry which is why we didn't show you guys this upfront, even though it's way cooler than our individual projects," Hiro answers, his tone communicating nothing but authenticity-even Tadashi was starting to believe him. "You see, I have my microbots, and Tadashi has his water rescue robot. But when you put them together-you get this!" He gestures to Tadashi's tail. "Interactive, telepathically controlled technology that will allow human lifeguards to become even more effective! As Tadashi has demonstrated here, when the wearer comes into contact with the water, the microbots stored in the cleverly hidden compartment beneath the wearer's swimsuit-or clothes, in Tadashi's case, since he apparently decided to do this while fully dressed, although I can understand why given he felt it was an emergency-release and form a structure resembling a fish's tail around their legs, giving them stronger, more streamlined and thus faster swimming abilities. Something like this could improve the chance of rescuing a swimmer in danger by almost 50%! It's pretty cool, right? I still don't think Dashi needed to give away our little secret this early on-we could have saved it for next year's Expo-but he's ever the heroic type and I guess he couldn't resist showing off for the young lady in the room, even though he's _supposed_ to have a steady boyfriend!" He shoots Tadashi a playful glare, and despite the fact that what he was implying was extremely embarrassing, given he was quite literally saving his tail, the older boy couldn't do anything but meekly nod in agreement.

"Y-You're microbots really did this?" Krei stammers, staring down into the water and obviously trying to get a better look. "It looks so lifelike…"

"Of course! The Hamada bros wouldn't create a project without giving it some extra flair!" Hiro answers, puffing his chest out with pretend pride. "We created each bot to be a separate scale to add to the illusion that it really is a fish's tail."

"Fascinating…" Krei starts to reach out towards the water, and Tadashi momentarily panics at what might happen if he actually touched his tail and could feel how very real it was, but before the older man can even come close, Hiro playfully but firmly bats his hands away.

"Hey, we can't let you in on all the secrets of our tech-we're supposed to be your competition, remember?" he reminds him in a bantering tone.

"I can respect that," Krei chuckles, to Tadashi's great relief retracting his hand. "Still, color me extremely impressed, gentlemen. I can see where you just might be giving me a run for my money in a few years."

"I don't care how you did it-you save me back there, and I am extremely grateful," Abigail says, giving Tadashi a warm smile and then to his great embarrassment, kissing him on the cheek. After that she finally makes her way to her feet, wincing slightly in pain as she does so. "I think I twisted my ankle with this stupid heel… Dear, do you think you can help me out to the car so I can get home and get my ankle up and maybe change out of these wet things?"

"Oh, of course!" Instantly Krei's attention is fully on Abigail and, after tossing a hasty goodbye to the two brothers, the couple heads for the door.

Tadashi was about to relax when suddenly he felt a penetrating gaze on him and realizes that, while they might have fooled Krei and Abigail, they still had to get past Professor Callaghan. He timidly lifts his eyes up to meet those of his idol's, not at all sure that the older man had actually believed Hiro's story. Still, after a few moments which were probably the longest in Tadashi's life, Callaghan finally says in a low voice, "Interesting. Very interesting." Then, in a more normal voice, he adds, "Well, you gentlemen have yet again proved your talents worthy of SFIT. I look forward to seeing you this fall."

And then, just like that, he turns and walks out of the gymnasium without even a glance backwards.

"O-Oh my gosh…" Tadashi gasps as soon as he's gone. "I… I can't believe we actually made it out of tha-OUCH!" He rubs his head on the spot where his brother had just very soundly whacked him. "What the hell?!"

"You IDIOT!" Hiro glares down at him, doing his best to appear enraged even though it was obvious that he was just barely managing to keep from crying. "How could you DO that?! Do you have any idea what they could have DONE to you if they didn't believe my story?!"

"I-I know," Tadashi admits, hanging his head in shame. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"That's RIGHT. You DIDN'T think! You NEVER think about the consequences to your actions! They could have taken you AWAY from me! And you were willing to throw it away just to play HERO?! Do I really mean that little to you?!" Hiro shouts at him.

"Hiro…" Tadashi whispers. "I-I know… I-I swear, I didn't do it on purpose, my instincts just kicked in and…"

"In that case, you definitely need to get your instincts under control," GoGo says firmly as the rest of their friends, who had been silently and panickedly watching the whole debacle from the door, join them by the side of the pool. "Also your transformations. You can't pull the 'microbots' card every time your tail decides to show up in class! Either you need to figure out how to get your legs to stay on semi-permanently, or else you're going to have another 'accident' and go back in that wheelchair for good whenever you're in public."  
"Guys, enough!" Fred butts in when he sees how upset his boyfriend was looking. "C'mon, give him a break. Yeah, he needs to work on control, but he's been working hard on it."

"Not hard enough, apparently," Hiro mumbles under his breath.

"And I KNOW he's going to keep working on it to get this under control before school starts!" Fred states firmly. "But right now he's just been through an extremely traumatic experience, and we should be focusing on getting him safely home instead of beating him over the head for something he obviously already feels terrible about!"

"Fred's right-he's been through enough tonight!" Honey Lemon quietly agrees.

"Fine, fine," GoGo sighs. "As long as he got the message."

"I-I have, believe me," Tadashi answers quietly, still feeling shaken both by his near escape and the other's reactions to it.

"C'mon." Fred reaches a gentle hand out to the mer, who finally finds it in him to relax long enough to let his tail form back into legs as his boyfriend pulls him out of the pool.

"Here." Wasabi, who hadn't wanted to get in the middle of the argument but was always prepared for any emergency nonetheless, pulls a clean white t-shirt out of his bag which Tadashi gratefully changes into it. It was too big for him, but at least it wasn't wet.

"Let's go get Tadashi home," Fred says once the mer is finished changing, leading the group towards the door. The elder Hamada, though, notices his younger sibling hanging back from the others and heads over to check on him.

"H-Hiro, I really am sorry about what happened tonight," he begins guiltily. "I swear that I'll do my best to never let this happen agai-"

He's cut off yet again as the teen suddenly wraps his arms tightly around his waist, and after a moment of surprise, Tadashi gratefully returns the hug.

"I love you, you stupid nerd," Hiro whispers. "I-I just want to keep you safe, no matter what…"

"I know that." Tadashi leans down to gently peck the top of his head. "And I appreciate everything you've done to take care of me all these years."

"You're welcome." Hiro gives him a crooked, gap-toothed smile at that.

"Now c'mon, let's get both of us home before Aunt Cass really starts worrying about us, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, gently nuzzling against his side as they make their way to the door.

Even though for months after the Expo both of the brothers kept their guard up, jumping at the smallest noise for fear that Krei or Callaghan had stopped believing their story and was coming after Tadashi, nothing ever happened. Apparently Hiro's words (which Tadashi had begun to think were strengthened by the "powers of persuasion" that they got from the sirens that were mixed with their regular mer blood) had done the trick, and eventually they were able to comfortably settle into life at SFIT. There were times, like today, when Tadashi had to wonder if Callaghan suspected more than he was letting on. But if almost two years had passed without him doing anything or trying to expose his secret, the elder Hamada was pretty sure that either the professor had chosen to refuse to believe something which to him could not be explained by science or, for reasons unknown to the young man, was willing to keep his secret.

And, if it was the latter, Tadashi thinks as he finishes packing his bag and locks the door to the office behind him, he would always be eternally grateful to him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Dashi!" Hiro looks up from the suitcase he'd been packing and grins as his older sibling walks into his room.

"Hey, otouto," Tadashi answers, smiling and coming over to pull his younger sibling into a tight hug. Hiro rolls his eyes at the display of affection but doesn't argue, instead just nuzzling into the contact.

"So, you ready for tomorrow?" the teen asks when he finally lets him go.

"Totally!" Tadashi agrees with a grin. "You?"

"Oh yeah!" Hiro grins eagerly back at him. "I mean, we're going to the _ocean_! How much cooler could this trip be for people like us?"

"Maybe if we were going to a water park…" Tadashi answers playfully.

"...True, that would be cool, but chlorine feels weird in my gills and, besides, we can't use our tails like we'll be able to on Fred's family's private beach!" Hiro points out.

"You make a very valid point," Tadashi agrees with a chuckle-ever since his little brother had received his own tail on his last birthday, thanks to it both being the magical coming of age day for mers and also a kiss on the forehead given in brotherly love, the teen had been looking for any excuse he could to actually use his tail. That was one of the major reasons that they'd all chosen to visit the beach again this summer, because he'd been desperate to finally get to explore the ocean as a proper mer.

"I don't suppose any of your excitement has to do with wanting to impress Ezra, does it?" Tadashi asks with a playful grin.

"What? No! Of course not!" Hiro protests, blushing bright red as the mention of his blue-haired boyfriend.

"Mm-hm. Sure…" Tadashi playfully drawls.

"Hey, if I do, it's no more than you want to show off for Fred!" Hiro shoots back.

"Touche!" Tadashi chuckles as he heads over towards the door that linked his own room to Hiro's so that he could also finish making preparations for the trip before they left out the next day.

"Dashi?" Tadashi looks up from his suitcase a little while later to see Hiro standing in the doorway, looking somewhat nervous.

"Yeah, Hiro? What's up?" the older boy asks, frowning in concern.

"I just… Will the ocean be as amazing as a mer as I'm hoping it will be?" the younger boy asks softly.

"No," Tadashi answers flatly before giving him a playful smile and coming over to wrap his arms tightly around him. "It will be _better_."

The next morning, the two brothers wake up early and, after grabbing their bags and saying goodbye to Aunt Cass (who absolutely refuses to let them leave until they take a box of sea-themed donuts she's made fresh that morning to share with the others-she was serious about making sure that everyone had a good, filling breakfast, even if it wasn't the healthiest thing in the world), they head over to Fred's house, which was just down the street from theirs. Everyone had agreed to meet there, and by the time that they arrive Honey Lemon is already there, looking as perky and chipper as ever, while GoGo, her girlfriend, appears to be doing her best to take a nap leaning up against the family's limo.

"Hey guys!" Fred grins and waves eagerly as he sees the brothers heading their way.

"Hey yourself!" Tadashi grins and lightly pecks him on the cheek before asking, "Where do you want us to put these?"

"Oh, Heathcliff's loading those in the trunk, just take them around to the back!" Fred answers with a smile.

"Awesome, thanks!" Hiro and Tadashi walk to the back of the limo, giving the butler/manservant who was handling the luggage pleasant "good morning's" before heading back to join the others.

Wasabi was the next to arrive, and shortly after him, Ezra's adopted dad pulled his cruiser into the driveway.

"Ezra!" Before the car was even fully to a stop, Hiro was racing over to it, and as soon as it was actually in park the other teen was throwing the passenger side door open and tumbling out to meet him.

"Hey Hiro!" He beams down at the younger Hamada, wrapping around him and gently pecking his forehead.

"Morning!" Hiro answers, beaming back up at him.

"Okay, waaaay too much sweetness for this early in the morning, I swear I'm going to get cavities!" GoGo groans from over by the limo.

"Ignore her," Hiro declares before smiling and waving as Ezra's dad comes around to join them. "Good morning, Officer Jarrus!"

"Good morning to you too, Hiro," Officer Jarrus answers warmly before turning to his son. "Ezra, do you think you have everything you need for the trip?"

"Yep!" Ezra agrees, pulling his duffle bag out of the car and hitching it up onto his shoulder. "Got it all right here!"

"All right. Remember what your mother and I told you last night about being a polite guest while you're staying at Fred's family's house," Officer Jarrus gently reminds him. "And about safety on the beach!"

"Yes, Dad, I'll make sure to wear plenty of sunscreen!" Ezra promises.

"And he'll be perfectly safe in the ocean!" Hiro adds. "Dashi and I have both been in the water practically since we were born so we're really good swimmers-we'll watch out for him!"

"Right…" Ezra's dad didn't know the whole truth about Hiro and Tadashi, but both boys had slowly been given them hints over the last year, trying to gently ease them into it. Even if Ezra's parents might not fully understand or believe the truth, they had seen both Hamada brothers in action in the water, sans tails, and so they knew just how good of swimmers they actually were.

"I'll see you in a week, okay, Dad?" Ezra says, not-so-subtly prompting his father to leave.

"All right, kiddo-I get it, you don't want your old man hanging around and embarrassing you in front of your friends," Officer Jarrus chuckles. "But I'm not leaving with a hug."

"Right!" Ezra grins and wraps his arms around his father. "Love you, Dad!"

"Love you too, son," Kanan answers, hugging him tightly back before finally letting him go. He heads around to the driver's side of his cruiser, opening the door to get in, but before actually climbing in, he calls to the teen, "Remember what I said about being a gentleman to Hiro! Just because you're going to be alone in a house with a bunch of other young adults doesn't mean-"

"Dad, I KNOW!" Ezra cries, turning bright red. His father's only reaction was to laugh before finally getting into his car and driving away.

"Part of me's tempted to ask, but most of my common sense is telling me that I really don't want to know," Hiro says with a wry smile.

"Trust me, you don't!" Ezra groans before turning back towards the limo. "C'mon, let's just get going!"

It didn't take long for the two boys to get Ezra's bag deposited in the trunk and then, since everyone had arrived, they all pile into the limo so that they can actually start their trip.

"I never thought I'd be going on a trip riding in something like this!" Ezra admits, eagerly looking out the windows as they start to pull out of the driveway.

"Eh, it's pretty much just like riding in a van, only we can all see each other instead of being separated by rows of seats!" Fred answers with a slight shrug before asking, "Okay, which movie should we put in first?"

There was a heated debate over Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter, but it was Tadashi who finally pointed out that they should watch something tropical to get them in the mood.

"As long as it's not _The Little Mermaid_ again," GoGo groans. "You guys have _ruined_ that movie for me last year-I don't think I can ever unsee the time I walked in on you and Fred doing it in the middle of the 'Kiss the Girl' scene!"

"We thought the door was locked!" Tadashi protests, blushing bright red.

"You shouldn't have been having sex while you had guests over," GoGo states bluntly.

"In our defense, we were on vacation and we thought everyone else was busy!" Fred answers. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that you and Honey Lemon weren't completely innocent either! I seem to recall very loud noises coming from your room at 2 am and they certainly weren't explosions from HL's chemistry experiments-"

"Okay, guys, _please_!" Hiro groans. "I _don't_ want the details of all of your sex lives! Let's just put a movie in before this gets any more awkward-and, for the record, I'm voting _Lilo and Stitch_ because I can't think of any way that movie could have been tainted by any of us!"

No one could think of any arguments to that, so that's the film they finally went with. Not that they actually watched the movie-while it played in the background, there were about five conversations going at once, often overlapping and merging in the way that conversations often do on road trips. After Lilo and Stitch was over, they put in _Finding Nemo_ (GoGo complained about the fact that they were only watching Disney movies, but when she couldn't come up with a better ocean themed movie that wasn't created by Disney off the top of her head, she had to admit defeat.) By the time that movie was over, it was almost noon and they were most of the way to the beach.

"It's just about half an hour from here," Fred promises as they drive through a little seaside town, many of the others looking out the windows at their surroundings with interest. "If you guys remember, this place is actually within walking distance of the beach house if we ever need anything or if you ever just want to come up and explore. We might end up taking a day to all come up here together, but you're free to visit whenever you like!"

"Look at all the cute little shops!" Honey Lemon happily squeals. "I think they might have opened some new ones since last year!"

"There's also an ice cream shop here that I swear makes the world's best sundae!" Fred adds for the benefit of the newcomer in their midst.

"I think I know where we'll be going!" Hiro tells Ezra with a grin.

"Definitely!" his boyfriend agrees eagerly.

Eventually the faded shopfronts give way to grey stone as they slowly follow a winding path along a cliffside that borders the beach. Everyone tries to get a good look at the ocean through the windows, although it wasn't until they finally come down from the mountains and onto a more leveled off sandy road that they finally get to see it.

"Oh, it's just as gorgeous as I remember!" Honey Lemon cries.

"We are going to get some killer waves," GoGo adds with a grin.

Both Tadashi and Hiro were silent even though they were both glued to the window-being so close to the ocean, their ancestral home, was a big deal for them. Fred understood their eagerness, but Ezra was looking confused and just a tiny bit neglected and so the fanboy decides to take it upon himself to help the poor teen out.

"Don't worry, they won't be like this the entire time," he promises, sliding over on the seat so that he was closer to the other boy. "Once they get in the ocean for the first time, they're able to get it out of their systems and they'll be back to normal-or, as normal as these two can be." He playfully nudges Ezra, who gives him a wry but grateful smile in return.

"Not to say that they won't be out in the water every chance they can get," the older man continues, smiling fondly over at them. "They are mers, after all-it's in their blood. But you might find that being near the sea has its… advantages for those of us dating them."

"Like what?" Ezra asks curiously.

"I'm not sure what exactly what it is, but something about being near the ocean tends to make them a lot more… amorous," Fred admits with a slight smile.

"Really?" Ezra asks, not sure if he was more nervous or excited about this prospect.

"Definitely!" Fred grins over at him. "Trust me, you're going to love it."

"U-Um, you've never had any problems with Tadashi… Y'know, taking things farther than you were comfortable with, right?" Ezra asks awkwardly.

"Oh, no, definitely not!" Fred hurries to reassure him before admitting, "Well… Not gonna lie, he can be pretty persuasive when he wanted to be. But since I told him upfront what I was and wasn't comfortable with, he never took it farther than my boundaries, so don't sweat it, okay? You'll be perfectly fine! I mean, just 'cause Dashi and I… y'know, did it last year doesn't mean that you have to!"

"I… Um…" Ezra finds himself blushing deep red, part of him feeling like he was more than ready for this conversation to be over, part of him wishing that he could actually talk to Fred about the rather confusing feelings he'd been having for Hiro recently-feelings that made him make the kisses a little rougher, made his hands want to wander below his boyfriend's waist when they were making out, and left him waking up in the middle of the night from dreams he could only half remember but left him wondering what it would be like to actually go the next step with Hiro. Right now, though, in a limo full of listening ears, was certainly not the time to be asking those questions and so, with a quiet sigh, he decides to hold them in like he always did. Still, he makes a mental note to maybe try finding a private moment to bring them up with the fanboy, who seemed to have much more experience than he did in this particular department..

Eventually the sandy road gives way to a loose gravel driveway, and as they pull up to the pale yellow beach house, Fred declares, "We're here!"

"Whoa…" Ezra gasps quietly as he stares up at the enormous structure in front of him. When the others had mentioned a beach house, he'd imagined a small, cosy shack on a small stretch of beach, not something that looked like a tropical resort on a huge expanse of glittering white sand. Was this place for real, or was he dreaming all of this?!

"Okay guys, I'm assuming same room assignments as last year?" Fred calls to the others before they could get too excited. No one argued with that, so he says, "Okay, that works, then-Heathcliff will make sure all of your bags get into the right bedrooms." Seeing the expression on Ezra's face, he adds, "Don't worry, I'll show you where you'll be staying!"

"Thanks!" Ezra flashes him a grateful smile.

"Dashi!" Hiro, for his part, was eagerly tugging on his older brother's hand. "Can we go down to the ocean now? Please?"

"Well…" Tadashi glances over at Fred, who rolls his eyes at him but just answers,

"I know you two will be miserable until you do, so go for it. Just don't stay out too long, we'll probably be having lunch in about half an hour once everyone's settled!"

"Thank you!" Tadashi gratefully kisses him on the cheek. "You are the absolute best boyfriend in the world, you know that?"

"Well, I don't mind hearing you say it over and over again," Fred answers with a playful smile.

Tadashi grins and squeezes his hand before letting Hiro pull him out of the limo and down the path leading to the beach.

The white sand was warm beneath their toes, but both boys were too eager to get to the water to really notice. Hiro, desperate as he was to get in the ocean, immediately started heading down the beach toward where the surf met the sand, but Tadashi gently pulls him in slightly different direction, towards a path that led up to a rocky outcropping Fred had showed them last year that was perfect for diving off of into a natural cove that led into the ocean.

"It's easier to start out in deep water than to try to walk out up to your waist and then try to get your balance when your tail forms," Tadashi explains when his brother gives him a questioning look.

"Oh-right." Hiro nods in understanding-he should have known that from his experience with pools, but he was honestly so eager to just get in the water that he wasn't even thinking clearly at this point. He could practically hear the ocean calling his name-the pull had been strong last year, but not _this_ strong.

"Let me go in first," Tadashi says when they reach the top, putting a gentle hand on his younger sibling's shoulder. "I'll make sure everything's clear down there-and, not gonna lie, I want to be there for your first time."

"Fine, fine," Hiro quietly huffs-he didn't want to wait a second longer than was necessary, but he'd waste more time if he argued than if he just let his nerd of an older brother have his way.

"Thank you." Tadashi smiles and gently pecks his forehead before heading to the edge of the rocks. "See you down there?"

"You'd better believe it!" Hiro agrees with a toothy grin.

As soon as the older man jumps, the teen heads to the edge to watch his descent. Leave it to Tadashi to look like an olympic diving champion, flipping in the air and obviously showing off for his little brother, his legs smoothly transitioning into a silver tail just before he pierces the water's surface without creating so much as a splash. Hiro waits impatiently for him to surface, and finally his brother's head comes out of the water, calling to him, "It's fine! Everything's clear down here, you're safe to come in!"

Hiro grins-maybe he couldn't do the fancy sort of dive his older brother could, but he could certainly get some revenge for making him wait! He backs up a few steps before jumping off the edge, hurtling towards the water in a cannonball. Tadashi ducks, but it was too late-Hiro was content that he had thoroughly drenched his older brother. Still, moments after he's broken the surface, he couldn't care less about what his elder sibling was thinking-he was in the ocean! He'd let his tail form on the way down, and now he lets it stretch out, the salty water caressing his scales and fins even as he takes his first breath of pure ocean water. It was absolute heaven on Earth. He lets his eyes slide shut, just relishing this first moment of feeling like the ocean was completely and totally accepting him-claiming him as its own, telling him that he was, at long last, home.

When he finally opens his eyes, he sees Tadashi floating nearby-any irritation that he'd experienced from Hiro's prank was gone, replaced by pure pride and pleasure at seeing his younger sibling getting to experience the sea for the first time as a full-fledged merman.

"C'mon." He reaches out and takes the teen's hand in his own and starting to lead him towards the opening of the lagoon, drawing him out towards the open water. "There's a lot you still have to see!"

Hiro eagerly follows him, wanting to explore every inch this new world had to offer him.

For the next half an hour, Tadashi shows him through the area of the ocean that was safely roped off as that belonging to Fred's family. Beyond the roped off buoys, they risked running into boats and other potential dangers, so for their own safety they had to stay relatively close to shore. Still, there were beautiful rock outcroppings to explore, plus all of the fish-Hiro had never actually been able to go swimming somewhere where there were actual fish before, at least not as a mer, and he couldn't help but grin as he watches them go about their business, not even paying attention to the mermen in their midst except a daring few that came closer to investigate, making him laugh with pleasure when the brush against his tail. He felt like he could have stayed out here for forever, but Tadashi eventually gently reminds him of their promise to return before lunch.

"But Dashi…" Hiro quietly whines, his eyes drawn out towards the open water beyond the boundaries. For one moment, he considers begging his older brother to come with him-to just swim off into the ocean and get lost in it's beautiful blue water forever. But then the older merman lays a hand on his shoulder, saying softly,

"I feel it too. Every time I come here, I want to just give myself to the ocean. But we've got family, Hiro. Family and friends who need us, and an important destiny to fulfill up on the surface." When he sees the conflicted look on the other boy's face, he adds, "How do you think Ezra would feel if you never came back to him?"

That was enough to snap Hiro out of it. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts, the spell broken.

"S-Sorry," he whispers, feeling a bit shaken-how had he almost left that all behind?

"It's okay," Tadashi gently reassures him. "It's only natural-it's in your dna, after all. With time, it gets easier to resist the pull. And it helps to think about the people who would miss you if you ever left."

"Yeah, I guess so," Hiro agrees, giving him a grateful smile.

"C'mon." Tadashi tugs on his hand, leading him towards the shallower waters. "Let's head back before the others start worrying about us."

"Okay," Hiro agrees, gladly following his lead. Until he got this under control, maybe it would be better if he didn't go into the water, at least not as a mer, without Tadashi or one of the others accompanying him to make sure that he didn't give in to his impulse. Still, he thinks as his tail starts brushing up against the sand and he's forced to go back to legs, this had been one of the most amazing moments of his life and he didn't regret one second of it.


	3. Chapter 3

"There you guys are!" Fred smiles as the two brothers enter the kitchen where everyone else was already eating lunch, grabbing the towels that had been left by the door for them and starting to dry off. "We were starting to worry that you guys weren't actually coming back!"

His tone was joking, but there was just a hint of concern in his voice that told Hiro that maybe he had some idea as to the type of effect the ocean had on the mers.

"Trust me," Tadashi says warmly, coming over to wrap his arms around his boyfriend's waist and kissing him firmly on the cheek. "I will _always_ come back to you."

Fred grins, seeming relieved as he kisses him back before saying mildly, "Well, dig in guys! Hope we left enough for you!"

"It looks perfect," Tadashi answers, happily taking the seat next to him.

"So, how was it?" Ezra asks curiously when Hiro sits down next to him.

"It was… Incredible," Hiro admits. "But kind of hard to explain…"

"Try me!" Ezra says, watching him with interest.

"I just… It felt amazing. Like I had finally found the place I was meant to be my entire life but I'd never known it 'til now," Hiro breathes. "It felt like… I dunno, like I was coming home!"

"O-Oh…" Ezra says slowly, unsure of how to take this new information. It made sense that Hiro, as a mer, might feel that way about the ocean. But did that mean that he wanted to stop being human-that he wanted to go live in the sea, far away from where he could be with him?

"It's sort of like visiting the home of your ancestors," Tadashi puts in gently, trying to soften the blow for poor Ezra. "Like how some people will go on trips to the country where their family is originally from. It always feels amazing and you feel really connected to your roots. But at the end of the day you know that your real home is where your family and friends are."

"Yeah, what he said!" Hiro agrees, suddenly realizing that he might have been upsetting his boyfriend and, just to be safe, squeezing the other teen's hand to show him that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh, good!" Ezra says with a relieved smile, only to quickly add, "I mean, good that you had an awesome time!" He didn't want to come off as possessive or ruin Hiro's fun while he was here, but he was glad to know that he would be coming home with him.

"So, what are the plans for after lunch?" Tadashi asks a little while later as everyone starts finishing with their meals.

"Well, I think everyone's ready to go hit the beach, so we'll probably do that!" Fred answers with a smile before whispering in his boyfriend's ear, "But I've actually got something to show you, if you'd be willing to let me steal you away for a few hours."

"Okay?" Tadashi answers, slightly caught off guard by the request but knowing that his boyfriend loved surprises and so deciding to just go with it.

"Let's go get changed then, and then we can go," Fred tells him with a grin.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees with a nod. He and Hiro had been so eager to get into the ocean that they'd just gone in in their clothes, but it would make more sense to get dressed in their swimwear for longterm being out on the beach or in the water. "Meet you back down here in about ten minutes?" he suggests, taking his plate over to the sink.

"Sounds perfect!" Fred agrees, doing likewise and pecking him on the cheek before heading to his own room on the ground floor, Tadashi heading up the stairs to the room he and Hiro had shared on the last trip. As soon at the elder Hamada's finished changing, he hurries back to the kitchen, eager to find out what it was that his boyfriend wanted to show him. Not to his complete surprise, Fred was already by the door, waiting for him-the other man was the master of the quick change, and given he was apparently really excited by whatever this surprise was of course he'd have gotten ready even faster than he usually would have.

"Ready?" the fanboy asks, bouncing up and down lightly on the balls of his feet-a definite sign that he had something pretty big planned.

"Sure!" Tadashi agrees, smiling as he joins him. "Lead the way!"

Fred happily takes his hand, leading him out onto the sand but not taking him down towards the water, instead taking him along a side path that Tadashi thought he recognized but couldn't place quite where it led. After a good ten minutes of walking, he finally started to recognize their surroundings.

"Are we going to the cove?" he asks curiously-usually if they were going there they'd take the high path because it was more fun to dive in, but the first time they'd come here Fred had taken him along this lower route so that they could actually explore it up close before just jumping in.

"Maybe…" Fred answers playfully.

"You're being awfully mysterious for something as simple as visiting a spot I've already been with Hiro today," Tadashi points out, hoping to manage to get him to spill some sort of information, but his boyfriend was being more secretive than he'd seen him in a very long time.

"Just trust me!" Fred tells him with a knowing grin.

"This had better be worth all this build up," Tadashi tells him, faking sternness.

"Oh, it will be!" Fred answers, and after that he refused to say anything more.

"Okay, we're here," Tadashi says once they finally reach their destination, looking around curiously. "But I don't see anything…"

"Get in the water," Fred prompts.

"Really?" Tadashi raises an eyebrow. "Unless you somehow smuggled something down here between the time Hiro and I dived in here and we got to the house, I don't see how it's possible for you to have-"

"Just stop asking so many questions and trust me, okay?" Fred laughs, gently tweaking his nose.

"Fine…" Tadashi huffs, playfully rolling his eyes before diving into the cove. He stayed under for a minute, letting his tail form while searching the sandy bottom of the pool, but there was nothing unusual there.

"Okay, I give up, you've stumped me!" he says when he finally surfaces. "Now will you _please_ tell me what's going on already?"

"Close your eyes."

"What?!"

"C'mon, close them!"

"Fred, if this is some sort of prank you're trying to pull, like planning to splash me as soon as I close my eyes, it's not funny!"

"Tadashi Hamada, I can't believe you'd think I'd do something that unoriginal! I have never been so insulted!" Fred gasps, feigning hurt.

"So you're promising that this isn't some sort of elaborate prank?"

"I can absolutely guarantee you that it's not."

"Okay, fine, I'll believe you. But if you end up betraying my trust I will not talk to you for the rest of the trip!"

"Given that you know how much I'd hate that and I'm still asking you to close your eyes? I think you know that I won't 'betray your trust'!"

"...Fair enough. Okay, fine, I'm closing them."

"Thank you. ...And no peeking!"

"Okay, okay!" Tadashi covers his eyes to prove his point. "Happy now?"

"Very! Now be quiet for a minute, I need to concentrate!"

Concentrate? Okay, now Tadashi was extremely curious, but he's a mer of his word so he doesn't look, although he was listening very hard in hopes of figuring out what his boyfriend might be doing. He could hear him get into the pool, and then he could hear small noises reverberating up from the water, but other than that there was complete silence except the sound of waves lapping against the shore. The poor mer was about to burst from anticipation when suddenly he feels something smooth brushing against his tail. What the-?

"Okay, you can look now," Fred says in an excited, if somewhat nervous voice.

Tadashi opens his eyes and looks down into the water, only to let out a loud gasp when he realized what he was seeing. No-No way! It couldn't be!

"F-Fred…" he manages to get out faintly when he finally regains some use of his voice, unable to take his eyes off of the sight in front of him that should have been impossible. "Y-You have a tail!"

"Do you like it?" Fred asks shyly, flicking the appendage in the water and making the teal colored scales shimmer in the sunlight.

"H-How is this even possible? Y-You're not-!"

"It's not real," Fred tells him with a quiet laugh. "I wish it was, but it's not. It's the next best thing, though!"

"W-Where did you get it?" Tadashi asks, finally able to relax slightly now that he knew that his boyfriend hadn't actually turned mer. Not that he wouldn't have loved that if that was the case, but that was something beyond the scope of even his own imagination.

"Hiro," Fred answers with a grin. "You remember how you used that story at the Expo about your tail being made out of the microbots but then you managed to get out of having to try to actually produce a working model by saying that you wanted to focus on your other projects and that you'd decided that creating a tail out of microbots wasn't actually an economical or practical lifesaving tool?"

"Yeah, of course," Tadashi agrees-they'd had to do quite a bit of fast talking to try to get out of that one, but somehow they'd managed it.

"Well," Fred continues with a grin, "I decided to ask Hiro if he thought maybe it would be possible for him to create microbots that would create an artificial tail. I offered to compensate him for the time it would take him to do the research and so… Here we are!"

"He actually made one?" Tadashi quietly gasps.

"He did indeed!" Fred agrees. "And he did a pretty awesome job of it, I must say! It looks incredibly lifelike!"

"That it does," Tadashi says, shaking his head and still trying to wrap his mind around all of this. "But why didn't he tell me that he actually-?"

"I paid him to keep it a secret too!" Fred chuckles. "He's also been giving me swimming lessons on how to use it while you were working your shifts at the cafe. I wanted to surprise you when we got here!"

"You certainly did that," Tadashi admits, reaching out a tentative hand towards the tail. "Can I-?"

"Of course!" Fred grins, flicking the end of it towards him.

"This is absolutely incredible," Tadashi marvels, running a hand over the tiny robotic scales. "I couldn't tell the difference between this and the real thing…"

"So you do like it?" Fred gently prompts.

"Like it? It's amazing!" Tadashi cries, finally managing to get over his shock. "Oh my gosh, Fred, this is incredible! I know how long you've wanted to try being a mer…"

"It wasn't just for me," Fred answers, wrapping his arms playfully around his boyfriend's waist. "I know how sexy I've always thought your tail was, so I thought I'd return the favor!"

"Y-You did this to impress me?" Tadashi asks, blushing slightly.

"Is it working?" Fred returns, reaching up and tangling his fingers in his boyfriend's hair.

"Definitely," Tadashi admits, a slight smile starting to make it's way onto his face.

"Good," Fred whispers in his ear in a way that was definitely turning the merman on.

"Why do I get the feeling you want a repeat of last summer when we were watching _The Little Mermaid_ in your room and you started getting a little frisky?" Tadashi asks, unable to keep from smirking as his boyfriend's hands make their way to his hips.

"Because you know me?" Fred responds with a smirk of his own.

"That I do," Tadashi answers in a low chuckle, starting to lead Fred towards shore. The fanboy eagerly climbs out first, letting his microbot tail dissolve and retreat into the cleverly hidden storage compartment of the special belt that was mostly hidden by his swim shorts. He was more than a little surprised, however, when his boyfriend pulls himself out of the water, tail still very much intact.

"Wait, I thought you wanted to-" Fred starts to say, only for Tadashi to push him down onto the sand and purr,

"I do."

"But your tail-"

"We've never done this mer-style before, have we?"

"N-No, we haven't…" Fred feels his heart rate start to accelerate slightly.

"Well then, I think it's about time I finally showed you how it's done-only if you want to, of course."

"Oh, I very much want to."

"Good." Tadashi grins and leans down to pull him into an open-mouthed kiss.

Completely oblivious to his older brother's less than innocent activities, back on the main beach Hiro had a similar surprise for his boyfriend.

"You're being as mysterious as Fred was!" Ezra declares as the other teen leads him a little ways up the beach in the opposite direction of where the other two had gone.

"Maybe because we're both in on this!" Hiro answers with a grin.

"...Should I be concerned?"

"Nah, I think it's something you'll enjoy!"

"All right then, I'll trust you!"

"Good!"

Hiro honestly would have preferred to take Ezra to the cove like Tadashi was doing with Fred, but given he knew that the two might be keeping it… occupied for quite some time, he figured they should go somewhere else. The cove wasn't the only place to go with deep water, at least, so they were heading towards a rocky outcropping that led a bit of a way out into the sea that would do just about as well.

"Here," Hiro says with a smile when they finally reach their destination and have walked out to the end of the natural pier, holding a small belt-like device with a pouch on it out to his boyfriend. "This is for you!"

"What is it?" Ezra asks curiously, taking it from him.

"It's a present!" Hiro answers with a proud grin. "Put it on and jump in the water!"

"Uh… okay?" Ezra agrees, having no idea what was going on but deciding to just go with it. He carefully fastens the belt around his waist, his curiosity growing when he sees Hiro pulling something that looked like a glowing headband out of his pocket and slipping it onto his own forehead. Knowing that his boyfriend would never give away anything, no matter how much he begged, the blue haired teen jumps into the water. He surfaces and looks expectantly up at Hiro, who grins down at him.

"All right, hang on to the rocks for a second!" the other teen tells him.

"Um, why?" Ezra asks as he does as instructed.

"I just want to make sure that you don't go under when I do this!"

"Do wh-OH MY GOSH, HIRO, WHAT THE HECK?!" Ezra gasps as suddenly what look like tiny robots start flowing out of the belt, swarming around his legs. "What are you doing?" he demands.

"Wait and see!" Hiro answers. "I'm almost done!"

Ezra still wasn't sure that he fully trusted him, but after a few more moments he started to get some idea as to what he was doing, and he lets out a tiny gasp when his boyfriend's finishes.

"I-I have a tail!" he gasps. "H-How-?"

"You like it?" Hiro asks with a grin.

"Y-Yeah! It's totally epic!" Ezra agrees, still staring down at it in disbelief, running a tentative hand over the dark orange scales. "But how-?"

"My microbots!" Hiro answers proudly. "Or, at least, a special type of them I designed just for this! Pretty sick, right?"

"Definitely!" Ezra cries, eagerly swishing his newly formed tail in the water. "C-Can I really swim using this?"

"You can!" Hiro agrees. "But you should probably wait to try it out until I'm in the water too-I don't want you getting into danger if you're having a hard time controlling it without me being there to make sure that you're safe."

"Fair enough!" Ezra says before impatiently swishing his tail-now that he knew what it was, he wanted to try this thing out!

"Keep your shirt on," Hiro tells him playfully before diving in, surfacing a few moments later with his own tail formed. "C'mon." He gently takes Ezra's hand in his own and starts leading him out into the ocean. "I'll teach you how to swim mer style!"

"Sounds good!" Ezra agrees, beaming and gently flicking his tail in the water, trying to copy Hiro's movements as they move out into deeper water..

"You're getting it!" Hiro tells him, grinning.

"Yeah?"

"Totally!"

"I'm glad!" In his excitement, Ezra accidentally forgets to keep moving his tail and starts to slip under, but his boyfriend quickly puts an arm around his waist and pulls him back up to the surface.

"Maybe we should make sure you have your respirator on before we go any further," Hiro says gently, referring to the device he and Tadashi had created that allowed normal people to be able to breathe underwater like mers.

"Probably a good idea," Ezra agrees with a wry smile. "I think it's in my shorts pocket, but I'm not sure I can get to it with these scales…"

"Oh, here!" Hiro says, and instantly a gap appears in the scales around the other teen's pocket.

"Thanks!" Ezra laughs, reaching into it and pulling out the small device. "I'm guessing that you're controlling the tail with that headband like you do with your regular microbots?" he asks as he pulls the respirator on, the strap fastening snuggly around the back of his head.

"Yep!" Hiro agrees, closing the gap in the scales. "I can teach you how to control it yourself, if you like!"

"Let's get me used to swimming with the tail first, and then maybe we can work on that," Ezra suggests.

"Good idea!" Hiro agrees with a laugh before asking, "Ready to give it another go?"

"Born ready!" Ezra answers with a grin.

The two spend the rest of the afternoon practicing, Hiro first teaching Ezra the mer swimming technique and then helping him learn how to control the tail using the headband. Eventually they run into Fred and Tadashi, and, after some brief explaining from both parties, they end up just hanging out and playing in the water until the sun starts to go down. The mers weren't bothered by the water turning colder-they were part fish, after all-but the humans were, plus they were getting tired from swimming for so long. So, after some brief deliberation, they all decide to head back to shore to take a break and eat some dinner.

Back on the beach, Wasabi was already grilling hamburgers for everyone. The little party hadn't even realized how hungry they were from their very active afternoon until the delicious smell of the sizzling meat hits them, and suddenly they're all famished. Fortunately the food was almost done so they didn't have to wait long for it, and as soon as it's finished everyone gathers around a small bonfire to eat and swap stories from their afternoons. Apparently Honey Lemon and GoGo had gotten into a beach volleyball tournament with Wasabi acting as referee, but as soon as the feisty latina hears the stories about the mer tails volleyball is quickly forgotten and she starts begging Hiro to make her one too.

"I've loved mermaids ever since I was a little girl, it's not fair that you guys get to all be mers and I don't!" she cries.

"I figured you'd say that," Hiro chuckles. "And, to prevent any mutiny from breaking out… I actually made tails for everyone!"

"What? No way!" Tadashi cries, staring at his younger sibling in shock even as Honey Lemon lets out an elated squeal. "When did you have time to do all of this?!"

"It was just a matter of making the first one, then it wasn't that big of a deal to just reproduce them," Hiro answers with a tiny shrug and a smile. "I could just have the printers working on printing the bots while I was doing homework!"

"Hiro, you are seriously the best!" Honey Lemon declares, pulling the teen into a tight hug.

"Hey, hey, no hugging!" Hiro protests, wriggling away from her.

"It was still really generous of you to to do this," Ezra says, giving his boyfriend a warm smile.

"You can thank Fred for inspiring me and providing the funding," Hiro answers with a tiny grin.

"Wait, you did that?" Tadashi cries, looking over at his boyfriend in surprise.

"I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone for this trip," Fred answers with an embarrassed shrug.

"Aw, Freddy, thank you!" Honey Lemon cries, enthusiastically hugging the fanboy and beaming so hard that it looked like her cheeks must be aching from the effort.

"Thanks, I think?" Wasabi says uncertainly as Hiro stars passing around the belts containing the microbot tails, obviously unsure of what to think of all of this.

"Huh…" GoGo looks down at her dark purple belt in curiosity. "It'll be interesting to see if this helps me swim any faster-that would be nice."

"I'm going to look like a mermaid princess!" Honey Lemon eagerly declares, clutching her own bright pink one to her chest like it was some sort of precious treasure. "C-Can we go try them out now?!"

"I think it's a bit too dark to do that tonight," Fred gently tells her. "How about first thing in the morning?"

"Okay, fine…" Honey Lemon playfully groans. "I guess if I've survived this long, I can go one more night without a tail…"

"Exactly!" Fred chuckles.

The conversation gradually turns to other topics, and when the burgers are finished they start roasting marshmallows. They all stay out onto the beach until the moon is high in the sky and several of the members of their party are starting to drop. When they finally head inside, Tadashi actually has to carry a sleeping Hiro with him, while Fred provides support for a very tired Ezra.

"Almost makes you want to just tuck them into the same bed for the night, the way it was so hard to get them apart to bring them in here," the fanboy whispers with a slight smile as they enter the house, referring to the way Hiro had curled up against Ezra in his sleep and Tadashi had literally had to pry him away from him in order to get him inside.

"It might be cute, but they'd murder us in the morning if we did," the elder Hamada points out. "Besides, I'm not sure they're near ready for anything like that, and we shouldn't put them into a potentially compromising position without their permission!"

"Don't worry, I was mainly joking," Fred reassures him. "But, just for the record… I think they might be closer to starting that stage of their relationship than you might think."

"What? No way!" Tadashi cries, eyes going wide and arms instinctively tightening around his younger sibling. "Hiro's only sixteen, and Ezra's only seventeen! There's no way anything like that could happen!"

"Sure, sweetheart," Fred hurries to reassure him, realizing that his boyfriend wasn't near ready to have that conversation yet. Still, as the fanboy carries Ezra into his designated room and hears the teen murmuring Hiro's name as he settles him into the bed, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe things were going to be moving in that direction whether Tadashi was ready for it or not.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days pass fairly quickly. Of course on the second day of the trip, everyone (except maybe Wasabi, who was the most reluctant of the group) wanted to try out their new tails. The two biological mers of the group ended up taking all of them down to the cove for lessons in using them, wanting to make sure that they were all confident in the new style of swimming before setting them loose in the ocean. GoGo was, not surprisingly, the first to pick it up, using her new tail to zoom around the cove at speeds the impressed even Tadashi, who had lived in the water for most of his life. Honey Lemon followed soon after her, although instead of focusing on speed she spent most of the day happily giggling and squealing over her tail and planning on how to accessorize the perfect swimsuits to go with it. Eventually the brothers even managed to get Wasabi in the water, and while he didn't stay in for long (he wasn't big on swimming), by the time he got out even he had to admit that he had had fun.

By the next day some of the novelty of the new tails had worn off, but they were all happily switching back and forth from regular swimming to mer style whenever they went in the water. There were also plenty of adventures to be had on shore, having sandcastle building contests, searching for shells, exploring the tidepools, and, of course, enjoying all the amenities of the beach house, which was constantly turning up new surprises like a room that they hadn't found the last year that was dedicated solely to spare swimsuits (Honey Lemon eagerly pounced on them, hoping to find a top that matched her tail better) and a smoothie making bar in the kitchen that must have been added in since their last visit. The only one who wasn't really taking full advantage of the house and the beach was Hiro who, despite Fred's promises, was still as addicted to the sea as ever, staying out in the water from dawn 'til dusk, only coming in for meals and when Tadashi absolutely put his foot down and insisted that he needed to stop being "antisocial" and spend some time with their friends. Ezra couldn't help but worry about his boyfriend-this wasn't normal behavior for him and every day the mer kept moving closer and closer to the boundary, staring longingly out at the open ocean. A part of him was starting to think that maybe the other teen wasn't even going to come home with them at the end of the week. What if Hiro just stayed in the water and refused to come out-or, worse, swam away from them all and disappeared into the sea for good? The only thing that was keeping him from completely losing his mind from worry was the fact that Fred's other prophecy about Hiro becoming more amorous also came true. Wanting to keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't run off without saying a goodbye, Ezra did his best to stay close to Hiro every time he went in the water, even though it was starting to get physically taxing since he wasn't used to having to swim near this much. Still, it did have its benefits. At least once a day the mer would suddenly turn to him and, without a word, drag him off to the cove where they would have the most amazing makeout sessions the blue haired teen had ever had, leaving them both sweaty and decidedly rumpled but extremely satisfied. If he was lucky, sometimes Ezra could even convince his boyfriend to stay and cuddle with him in the sand for a little bit before they both went back in the water to cool off. It seemed that every time they started having a go at each other, they went just a little bit farther-in their most recent attempt, there had definitely some physical contact below the waist going on and the noises Hiro had made as the other man nipped and sucked at his neck had touched something in his very core. Ezra wanted to talk to his boyfriend-to find out what was going on in his head and where they were headed with all of this-but unfortunately Hiro was being pretty close lipped about everything these days and any time he tried to sit down and ask him any serious questions, Hiro would just playfully peck him on the cheek and then dart off into the water, forcing him to follow after him. By the time he'd finally caught up, usually he'd have forgotten what he wanted to ask in the first place. The next logical person to talk to would have been Tadashi since he knew Hiro best, but Ezra wasn't exactly sure how to broach the subject of sexual intimacy with his boyfriend's older brother-after all, he'd probably murder him if he knew just how far the two had already gone! Beyond that, he just seemed to be in a rather agitated mood most of the time now, constantly shooting looks at his little brother when he didn't think anyone was looking and making Ezra think that maybe he wasn't the only one worried about Hiro's strange behavior.

It was on the evening of the third full day of the trip that Ezra finally felt a little bit of relief. Fred announced that the next day they would all be taking a trip up to the village, and while attendance wasn't strictly speaking mandatory, it might as well have been with the way Tadashi very firmly said that both he and Hiro would be going, and any arguments to that were quelled by the almost death glare that the older man gave his younger sibling. As Ezra settled into bed that night, he felt himself breathing a little easier. Since they were going to the village, that meant no swimming for at least most of the day tomorrow, and no swimming meant no having to worry about Hiro going off and leaving him. Maybe, just maybe, if he could keep his boyfriend out of the water for just one day, he'd finally start acting like his Hiro again.

The next day dawned bright and early, and Ezra was one of the first ones out of bed. He wanted to be up to make sure that his boyfriend didn't try to sneak out for an early morning swim, and he was gratified when Hiro came stumbling into the kitchen half an hour later and sat down at the table without glancing out at the beach. He looked slightly sullen, and Ezra would have been lying if he'd said that he hadn't vaguely heard bits and pieces of an argument going on between Hiro and Tadashi the night before. The blue haired teen couldn't say for certain, but he had a pretty good idea of what it had probably been about. Well, as much he would usually take his boyfriend's side on just about any issue, he couldn't help but hope that maybe the teen's older brother had finally gotten through to the younger boy-made him understand that all of his friends were starting to get worried about him and missed him. When Tadashi finally comes down and takes a seat a ways down from Hiro and the two refuse to make eye contact, however, Ezra has the sinking feeling that things hadn't gone nearly as well as he'd hoped.

Still, about half an hour later, walking along the dirt road leading up to the village, the blue haired teen can't help but feel his spirits lifting. It was a gorgeous day out-the sky a deep cerulean blue, not a cloud to be seen even on the horizon, and the sun was beaming down on them, just warm enough to be comfortable without burning them. Despite his rather surly attitude at breakfast, even Hiro seemed to be in a better mood now that the were actually on their way, and Ezra can't help but grin slightly when he feels his boyfriend slipping his hand into his own, swinging it back and forth and humming quietly. The teen risks a smile down at the younger man, who returns it with a gap-toothed one of his own, playfully nuzzling into him as they walk side by side. Maybe, just maybe, Ezra thinks, things were taking a turn for the better.

Once in the village, the group decides to set down the ground rules for the day-everyone could split up and go wherever they wanted, but they'd all meet at the little seafood shack by the pier for dinner at five before walking back to the beach house together. Honey Lemon immediately drags GoGo off to find the dress shop she'd fallen in love with the previous year, while Wasabi announces that he's just going to take a walk and stroll the streets for a bit. Eza honestly wasn't sure where to begin or even who (if anyone) would want to go with him, but to his great relief he finds Hiro tugging gently on his hand and asking him if he wanted to go check out the funny little tourist trap shops with him and the blue haired teen eagerly agrees. They spent a good part of the morning and early afternoon hopping from store to store, laughing at some of the more kitschy items while searching for gifts to bring home to their families. Along the way they would occasionally run into Fred and Tadashi, and they ended up all having lunch together at a cute little cafe covered in 50's memorabilia (Hiro commenting that it's a good thing that Aunt Cass wasn't there to see it because she'd either hate the decor or get some really ridiculous ideas for the Lucky Cat from it, neither of which would be good.) As they're leaving the restaurant, talking about going to find the ice cream shop Fred had mentioned on the trip over, suddenly the fanboy spots a used bookstore and Tadashi, laughing, tells the others to go on ahead, knowing that his boyfriend would probably want to spend the next couple of hours combing through piles of dusty old books in search of old sci-fi novels and comics. While Ezra was more than willing to wait around and maybe even check out the shop himself, Hiro wasn't, quickly dragging the other teen off down the street with him to continue their quest for ice cream.

It took them about another half an hour, but they finally find it, their frozen treats tasting just that much better from having to "earn" them (or maybe the ice cream was just that good!) They end up eating outside, watching the boats out on the harbor, laughing at the names on some, trying to guess the stories of how some of the others got theirs.

"See? Now that one's funny!" Hiro says, pointing to a nearby boat with "Seas the Day" painted on its hull. "I just don't get why so many of these ships have girl names on them!"

"I think it's kind of sweet that people name their boats after people they care about," Ezra answers with a slight shrug. "Like that one over there!" He points to a ship a bit further out in the water with the name "Abigail" painted on it in deep blue. "I could see someone like Professor Callaghan naming a boat after his daughter-y'know if he actually had a boat. Maybe it would make him think about her while he was out at sea so he'd always have a reminder to come home to her." Okay, so maybe he was projecting a tiny bit, but still, it was a decent explanation!

"Okay, granted," Hiro finally acquiesces. "But why does it have to be a _girl_? Why couldn't you name your ship after a son or a boyfriend or something?"

"I don't know-tradition?" Ezra speculates.

"It's a stupid tradition…" Hiro quietly grumbles.

"If it's any comfort, if I had a boat I'd name it after you," Ezra tells him with a warm smile.

"Really?" Hiro flashes him a smile.

"Really!" Ezra agrees, weaving his fingers a little tighter through his boyfriend's before adding quietly, "I… I wish I could put my name on you… So you'd never forget about me and you'd always have a reason to come home…"

"Wait, what?" Hiro looks up at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"N-Nothing!" Ezra blushes and looks away. "Forget I said anything!"

"Ezra, no-something's bothering you," Hiro says, frowning and refusing to let go when his boyfriend starts to try to pull away. "Tell me what's going on!"

"I-It's nothing, I'm just being stupid-"

"Your emotions are, in no way, stupid," Hiro tells him flatly. "Come on. Please. If something's bothering you, I want to know about it."

"I just…" Ezra lets out a low sigh. "Ever since we've gotten here, you've been acting… Different. Like, you hardly ever talk to me, all you want to do is stay out in the ocean all day! I'm trying to be supportive because I know how important this is to you, but some days… Some days I'm scared that I'm going to lose you… That you're just going to swim away and not come back and I'm going to lose the best thing that's ever happened to me…" Damnit, he had promised himself that he wasn't going to cry and yet here came the waterworks, like it or not.

"Oh, Ez…" Hiro breathes, looking absolutely stunned and a bit heartbroken to see his boyfriend this choked up about his recent behavior. Within moments, he's wrapping his arms around the other man's waist, pulling him into a kiss and just holding him tightly.

As many times as they'd kissed during the last week, Ezra finds himself melting into this one-it was the first one that had felt _real_ and he allows himself to feel all the warmth and love his boyfriend was pouring into it.

"I am _never_ ," Hiro says firmly once he finally pulls away, leaving poor Ezra feeling slightly dazed, "leaving you. And I'm sorry if I worried you. I know I've been acting a little… Odd this week. I don't know what it is about being near the ocean that's just making me act a little crazy. I remember Tadashi acting kind of strange last year and I couldn't understand it-I promised myself that I'd never get this way, but I guess I got sucked in before I could even realize what was happening…" He gives the other boy a somewhat guilty smile before adding, "But I _promise_ , no matter what's happening or how I'm acting, you are my Ezra, and I'm your Hiro. And I will always come back to you."

"Really?" Ezra feels a huge wave of relief washing over him, as if all of his stress and worries had just been washed away by the tide.

"Really," Hiro promises, pulling him into another kiss which his boyfriend more than eagerly returns.

"So… What do you want to do now?" Ezra asks softly when they finally break for air.

"Dunno," Hiro admits, smiling up at him. "Any ideas?"

"Hm…" Ezra glances around, searching for inspiration before his eyes land on the water below them. "Feel like a swim?" he asks playfully.

"I thought you basically just told me that you were sick and tired of swimming," Hiro points out, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe I was," Ezra admits. "But now that I know that you're staying here, safe with me… I'm not scared like I was before. And besides, you just did something really nice for me so I want to do something nice for you!"

"Well…" Hiro looks out at the sparkling blue water-even though they were near the bay, it was surprisingly clear. "I'm not going to lie, I'd love to go swimming… But do you think it's safe to do it here? Tadashi said that I shouldn't go swimming past the barrier…"

"It looks pretty dead around here, and as long as we stay away from any boats we should be fine," Ezra answers after giving the area a quick glance over, starting to tug gently on his boyfriend's hand. "C'mon. I want to do this for you-for both of us!" If he could show himself that he could trust Hiro to stay with him even in the open water, he could prove his faith in his boyfriend to both of them.

"...All right then, let's go for it!" Hiro agrees, too eager to get in the water again to be able to find it in him to really argue with him. Beaming, Ezra leads him to the end of the dock and, after doing one last cursory check, they dive into the water. The next two hours were probably the best ones Ezra had had so far on the trip. They had to stay underwater the entire time just to be safe, but that didn't matter. They swam and played and flirted, enjoying just being together. Ezra could have almost sworn that he was falling in love with his boyfriend all over again as he cuddles him against his chest in the sand, his hands tracing over every one of his perfect features, tangling in his thick black hair. He could have stayed there forever, but eventually they realized that they needed to get heading back if they didn't want to miss meeting the others for dinner and so they start swimming back for shore.

It was on the way back that they had the accident that almost changed both of their lives forever. Both giddy from their secret, slightly illicit date, the teens weren't paying as much attention as they should have been to where they were swimming. Consequently, shortly outside the bay, Hiro suddenly found his tail caught in something.

"Hiro, what's wrong?" Ezra asks, turning to his boyfriend in concern when he hears him calling out his name.

"I-I'm stuck!" Hiro answers, trying fruitlessly to disentangle his fins from the fishing net he was stuck in.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Ezra says, trying to soothe him as he comes over to join him. "If you struggle, you'll just make it worse!"

"O-Okay," Hiro agrees, doing his best to stay still while his boyfriend works to free him. They were so concentrated on that, in fact, that they didn't even see the sides of the net rising until it was too late.

"Shit!" Hiro cries when he realizes that they'd been neatly trapped, the net starting to rise. "E-Ez!"

"Hiro!" Ezra returns his panicked look. "Quick, you have to change back!"

"I-I'm trying!" Hiro answers, squeezing his eyes shut but opening them again and looking at his boyfriend in complete and utter terror. "I-I can't! Ezra, I'm stuck!"

"I-It's going to be okay!" Ezra tells him, trying to sound calm despite the felt that he himself was on the verge of a breakdown. He was trying to dissolve his own tail, but it seemed like, much as Hiro's panic was keeping him stuck as mer, his own was jamming the neurocranial transmitter holding his own tail together. The transmitter had been programmed to hold the tail together in the water under even the roughest of circumstances, and you had to be able to fully concentrate in order to make it form or dissolve. Right now, his main concern being on Hiro, there was no way that he was going to be able to do that. "M-Maybe if we swim down, we can break the net, like in Nemo!" he cries, deciding to instead focus on a more achievable goal-breaking free!

"This isn't a Disney movie!" Hiro shouts at him.

"Just do it!"

Unfortunately, even with both their efforts, they couldn't break the net and soon they found themselves being lifted out of the water.

"Just hang onto me," Ezra whispers, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend who was tightly clinging to him. "I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you!" He didn't know how much he could actually do, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight!

The net eventually stops rising and they're left swinging over the deck of the ship, shivering together and awaiting their fate.

"Well, well, well," an old, creaky voice says from somewhere nearby, making the two jump, "let's see what I've caught!" Suddenly the net drops and the two slam painfully to the deck, Ezra's skull connecting with the hard wood and causing small sparks of light to flash in his vision. By the time he could see again, he looks up to see an old man standing over them and looking like Christmas had just come early.

"I'll be a jellyfish's uncle-I can't believe it!" the man says, an eager gleam in his eyes. "I-I've actually caught two mers!" He lets out a rather eccentric sounding laugh. "And they said I was crazy for believing the myths! They said that I was an old fool! Well, look who's laughing now!"

"Please, sir!" Ezra says cautiously, not liking where this was going, "T-This is all a big misunderstanding! If you'll just let me explain-!"

But instead of answering, the old man suddenly starts wrapping the net tightly around them, tying it in knots that were going to be impossible to untie. "I'm going to be rich!" he says, his expression absolutely rapturous. "I can retire in comfort now! Just imagine the money I'm going to make, putting these two on display!"

Hiro lets out a panicked squeak, and Ezra cries angrily, "You can't do this! We have families-you can't just take us away from them! We are people, you can't treat us like property!" If he'd been thinking straight, he should have been pointing out that his tail wasn't even real, but all he could think of was his beautiful, sweet Hiro, who was so scared and stuck in mer form and how he was going to do whatever he could to stay with him and protect him.

"Yer my property now," the man answers, giving him a grin full of rotten yellow teeth. "Don't worry, I'll take real good care of yeh-and look at it this way, at least you'll be with your girlfriend!"

"G-Girlfriend?!" Hiro sputters. "I'm a boy!" Okay, so maybe that wasn't really important right now, but still!

"Really?" The man looks him over curiously. "Well, we can fix that with the right clothes. You'll draw more crowds if at least one of yeh is mermaid!"

"Oh my gosh, this can not be happening!" Hiro quietly moans, and Ezra hugs him tighter.

"You. Can't. Do this," the blue haired teen growls. "Our families will find us and make you pay dearly if you so much as lay a hand on us!"

"Yer families will have a bit of a rough time gettin' to yeh if they live yeh in the sea, won't they?" the man chuckles. "Besides, I'll be takin' you two far away from here to someplace where they'll never find yeh!"

Ezra's heart rate speeds up-he was full on kidnapping them?! Even if Hiro managed to get back into human form, this psycho was probably going to still lock them up and it would take them forever to get home, even if they managed to get free!

"Better get the two of yeh below decks before someone spots yeh," the old man chuckles, starting to tug on the net holding them. "Don't want no one stealin' yeh away from me!"

Hiro lets out an alarmed cry, and both he and Ezra start struggling against their bonds, desperately call out in hopes that whoever found them would be better than this insane person.

"Put a sock in it!" the old man growls, stuffing a rag from his pocket into Hiro's mouth. He appeared to be looking for something to shut Ezra up with, and the teen desperately keeps shouting, knowing that he probably only had seconds at most.

And then, by some miracle, he saw a nearby boat, the one he and Hiro had seen earlier called the "Abigail" slowly moving towards them.

"HELP!" he cries at the top of his lungs, hoping that whoever was captaining it could help him. "WE'RE BEING KIDNAPPED! RAPE! PEDOPHILE! FIRE!" Okay, so at that point he was just shouting whatever came to mind-whatever it took to get rescued!  
"SHUT IT!" The old man slaps him hard across the face, a dark glint coming into his eyes as he finally finds another rag and starts trying it tightly around Ezra's mouth.

No, no, they were so close! Oh God, please, don't let them be actually be taken away by this psychopath!

"Ahoy there!" a deep, oddly familiar voice calls, and although Ezra couldn't place it, he almost cried in relief. Despite the fact that they were both gagged and bound, he and Hiro start struggling harder-whatever they could do to make their situation clearer.

"Shove off!" the old man keeping them captive shouts, looking enraged at being caught. "Mind yer own bloody business!"

"You're making it my business-it looks like you're holding those two teens against their will!" the other voice answers sternly. "Do you know how many child abuse laws you're breaking right now? You could spend years in prison on that alone, let alone the kidnapping charges!"

"These aren't children! They're monsters-creatures of the deep!" the old man snaps. "And I caught 'em fair and square, so yeh can't try t' take 'em from me!"

"Sir, I will ask you once more to let them go or I will be forced to radio the coast guard," the other voice answers firmly. "And you should also know that I am currently armed and I am not afraid to use whatever force is necessary to make you let those children free." There's the sound of a gun being armed, and a look of panic crosses the old man's face.

"L-Looky here! I-I'm just an old man trying to make an honest living!" he stammers.

"By imprisoning and dehumanizing innocent living beings? That is not, by any definition, 'honest'," the other voice says coldly. "Now I'm giving you until the count of ten to give them to me, or you will force my hand."

"F-Fine," the old man finally sighs, shoulders slumping in defeat. "You can have 'em…"

"A wise choice." There's the sound of wood lightly bumping against wood, and the boat rocks lightly beneath them, leaving Ezra to think that the two boats had just connected. The old man starts dragging at the net they were still tied in, pulling them up the the railing and heaving them upright. Then another strong pair of arms suddenly takes hold of them and hauls them over the side and onto a different deck. Despite not knowing for sure what was going on, both teens could only hope that they were in a better situation than they'd been with the crazy old coot who wanted to put them on display like a circus side show.

"Now, you are going to sail away, and as far as you're concerned, none of this ever happened- _got it_?" the voice of their savior growls.

"R-Right…" the old man mumbles, and soon there's the sound of a motor starting up, growing slowly more and more distant until they can't hear it anymore.

"Well, at least that's over," their rescuer sighs before saying in a much kinder, if somewhat tired voice, "Don't worry, you're safe now. Let's get you out of those nets and then I'll take you wherever you need to go, all right?"

"T-Thank you," Ezra manages to get out, extremely relieved. It finally hit him that he probably should have tried dissolving his tail again long before now, but he couldn't change the past and, given he was going to be free any minute, he decides to just wait and do it when it'll be easier to manage, unencumbered by all these ropes. If anything, it might help for their unexpected savior to see it happen, so he can explain about the robotic tails (hopefully giving himself and Hiro a perfect excuse as to why the guy thought they actually were mers.) He was so caught up in his relief at being saved that he didn't even think to look up to see the face of their savior as he leans over to start cutting their bonds until he hears Hiro gasping loudly next to him. And then he finally does look, and he ends up having an involuntary sharp intake of breath himself. No way-No way, this wasn't possible! It couldn't be him-could it?

"P-Professor Callaghan?"


	5. Chapter 5

If the older man was at all surprised to see two of his students wrapped in nets, both of them with tails, he didn't show it. Instead he says in the most natural tone, "Why am I not completely surprised by this? You two always manage to get yourself into trouble no matter where you go, don't you?"

"W-We can explain…" Hiro starts to stammer out as the professor finishes cutting their bonds away.

"I'm sure I'm going to enjoy hearing that," Callaghan answers dryly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"W-well, you see, you r-remember the Expo and we showed you the microbot tail we made for Tadashi?" Hiro stammers out.

"I remember," Callaghan agrees, his tone even.

"A-And I know we told you afterwards that we thought it wouldn't be commercially practical so that's why we stopped development," Hiro hurries on, stumbling over his words. "But since we had the tech we t-thought it would be fun to make tails for our friends too for when we came to the beach this summer…"

"Yeah!" Ezra agrees, quickly dissolving his own tail and managing to sound more natural than his boyfriend. "See? It's pretty sweet tech! Apparently that crazy old guy thought that these were real-I can see how they look real, but seriously, I never thought anyone would try to _kidnap_ us over them! How messed up is that?"

"I do agree that it's, as you put it, 'messed up' that anyone would try to hurt another living being," Callaghan sighs before glancing over at Hiro and adding, "whether they be human or mer."

"W-Wait, I'm not-!" Hiro starts to protest. "W-We just told you that it's all tech-! M-Mers don't actually exi-"

"Hiro." Callaghan gives him the closest thing they'd seen to a smile that afternoon. "You may be a genius, but a good liar, you are not. Now, try to relax while I take us back to shore or else that tail is never going to disappear and I'm going to be forced to carry you through town while we try to find your brother-I'm assuming that your brother was with you today?"

"Y-Yes," Hiro manages to squeak out.

"Good." Callaghan nods before heading to the tiller to start steering the boat towards shore.

"H-How does he…?" Ezra gasps, staring after the older man.

"I-I don't know!" Hiro answers, shaking his head in disbelief. There were a million questions swirling through his mind, but he knew that now wasn't time to ask any of them. As it is, he does his best to follow the professor's advice and, after a few tries, he finally manages to get his tail to relax back into legs before they reach shore.

When they reach dry land again, Callaghan hops off the boat and expertly ties the boat to the dock before gesturing for the two teens to come down the ladder on the side and join him on the wood planking. Unsure of what else to do, they do, standing a bit awkwardly in front of him, not quite willing to meet his eyes.

"I should have asked earlier, but are either of you hurt?" the older man asks, his tone gentle and concerned.

"N-No," Hiro reassures him. "You got to us before he could really do anything…"

"Maybe a bit of rope burn, and he did slap me pretty hard at one point, but nothing we can't handle," Ezra agrees.

A dark cloud passes over Callaghan's face. "If I didn't think it would put you two in danger to report him..." he quietly growls. "Then again, I still might-he can't get away with doing something like this, and it's not like the coast guard will take any stories he has about mers seriously. I should have made sure to get more evidence, but I'll see what I can do. Right now, though, I want to get the both of you back to your friends. Hiro, do you know where your brother is right now?"

"W-We're supposed to be meeting him for dinner at a seafood place near here," Hiro answers quietly, still slightly in shock from everything that had just happened. He gives the name he thinks he remembers before admitting, "I don't know exactly where it is, though…"

"Well, you're in luck, because I do," Callaghan answers with a slight smile.

"Y-You do?" Ezra looks up at him in surprise.

"I know this town like the back of my hand," Callaghan chuckles warmly as he starts heading off down the pier, leaving the two teens to hurry after him. "I spent a lot leave days when I was stationed just up the coast from here in this town. It's changed a lot since then, but it's still just as beautiful as ever."

"You were in the military?" Ezra asks, slightly surprised but definitely intrigued by this new piece of information in spite of the odd situation they were currently in.

"The navy, for ten years," Callaghan answers with a smile. "Travelled around a lot to begin with, but when I met my wife here and she became pregnant with Abigail, I decided it was time to settle down. We had five years together before… Well, that's a story I'll keep for when we find Hiro's brother."

Hiro and Ezra trade curious glances but they decide not to ask any questions and just go with it.

"I try to come back here whenever I can-helps keep her memory close," Callaghan continues as they make their way through town. "I haven't been able to visit as often as I'd like to lately, but this year was the anniversary and so I figured I needed to clear my schedule and come down here. I owe her that much."

"The anniversary of your marriage?" Ezra asks softly.

"Of her death," Callaghan answers, his tone going so cold that neither boy dared say anything more after that. Fortunately his mood seemed to have lightened again by the time that they reach the restaurant, but the two teens couldn't help but feel more than a little confused and slightly frightened by his quickly changing moods and all the secrets he seemed to be keeping. They could only hope that they'd soon get an explanation.

"Hiro!" They hear Tadashi's voice even before they see him, and when they finally do spot him he's racing down the street towards them from the direction of what they could only assume was the restaurant.

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for the past two hours! And why are you all wet?! So help me if you went swimming when I specifically told you not to, I will have your tail on a silver platter-" The elder Hamada's rampage is only cut short when he notices the third member of their party. "S-Sensei!" he cries, his eyes going wide with disbelief. "W-What are you-?"

"Can we go somewhere to speak privately?" Callaghan smoothly cuts in, his tone as usual conveying nothing of what he was thinking or feeling.

"O-Of course!" Tadashi answers, still seeming to be in slight shock but nodding his head in agreement all the same even as Fred, who had been chasing after him, finally catches up.

"Does he know?" Callaghan asks, nodding towards the fanboy.

"Know what?" Fred asks, taking in the odd scene and obviously as confused as everyone else seemed to be.

"He does," Hiro puts in, guessing what the professor meant.

"I suspected as much," Callaghan says with a wry smile. "All right then, if you gentlemen will follow me…" He yet again starts off down the road, leaving the others no choice but to follow him.

"What is going on?" Tadashi whispers to Hiro, looking more frazzled than the younger boy ever remembered seeing him.

"It's a long story and I don't even know half of what's happening," Hiro admits quietly before focusing on just keeping up with his professor-the guy moved fast for being in his fifties!

Eventually they reach a Victorian looking building which, according to the sign over the front porch, was some sort of a bed and breakfast, and Callaghan leads them around the side to a small garden where there were several benches and garden chairs scattered about.

"Please, sit," he says, gesturing to the various pieces of furniture. The others do so without arguing, although he himself remains standing.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Tadashi asks as soon as everyone's settled, his patience obviously coming to an end.

"W-Well…" Hiro gives him a nervous smile. "E-Ez and I might have kind of gone swimming in the bay… And we may or may not have gotten caught in a fishing net and almost kidnapped by a really creepy eccentric old guy who wanted to turn us into a tourist attraction…"

"You WHAT?!" Tadashi cries, looking a combination between livid and terrified for the teens' safety. "Are you okay?" he finally asks, coming over and putting his hands on the boy's shoulders as if needing physical reassurance that his little brother was alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Hiro answers quickly, hoping that his brother's concern was outweighing his anger at the younger boy's disobedience.

"Are you hurt?" Tadashi presses.

"No, Dashi, I promise I'm okay!"

"Good." Tadashi lets out a relieved sigh before suddenly pulling off his hat and whacking his brother soundly with it. "Then. What. Were. You. Thinking?! KNUCKLEHEAD!"

"OW!" Hiro protests, putting his hands up in defense against the beating. "I'm still recovering from trauma at almost being kidnapped, bro! Have a heart!"

"You wouldn't have been almost kidnapped if you'd LISTENED to me!" Tadashi throws back angrily. "And you dragged Ezra into it with you! What would I have told his family if he'd disappeared along with you?!"

"Um, actually… Going swimming was my idea," Ezra guiltily admits.

"Oh…" Tadashi was stopped mid-rampage. "Well… Hiro still went in whether it was his idea or not." He lets out a long sigh. "Mainly I'm just glad that both of you are okay," he admits, hugging both of them before asking, "But how on Earth did you manage to get away?"

"Callaghan came along in his boat and saved us!" Hiro pipes up, glad that he seemed to be out of trouble, at least for the moment.

"H-He did?" Tadashi asks, just a hint of fear coming into his voice as he glances nervously over at his professor. "I-I'm assuming you told him about how we've actually been managing to have some breakthroughs with the microbot technology and you've been testing it out on this trip?" he continues, trying to keep his tone level.

"Yes, I saw how well it was working for Ezra," Callaghan answers with a slight smile. "It must be useful to have the real thing to use as a model."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Tadashi says, completely stone faced-it was obvious that he was going to deny things until the end of the Earth if he could.

"I think it's time I told all of you a story," Callaghan says, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against a tree. "As you most of you know by now, I was in the navy when I was younger. I went to school for my robotics degree under a military scholarship, and then I fulfilled my time commitment working on ships, continuing my robotics research on various projects I was assigned to and also in my spare time. Eventually I was stationed not too far from here, and I fell in love with the area-the scenery, the weather, the people. I knew that this was where I wanted to live, although I didn't realize how soon I'd start putting down anchor here, if you'll forgive an old sailor's pun. A friend brought me to this town on one of our leave days-he'd grown up here, and he showed me around, introduced me to his family. It was while at his family's home that I learned about the legends surrounding this place. Apparently the locals believe that their town is protected by benevolent sea spirits-more commonly known as merfolk. Of course I laughed when I first heard the stories, but I thought it was a quaint idea and so I decided to just go along with it. I came back to visit this town many times on my subsequent leave days, and I enjoyed getting to hear more of the locals' stories. I still didn't believe them, though-not until the day of the accident.

"My friend and I liked to go out on his family's boat sometimes when we came here to visit. We were both capable sailors, we thought we were perfectly safe. But then one day, out of nowhere, a storm blew up while we were out on the water. It took us completely by surprise. We were struggling to get back to the bay, but a huge wave came along and swept me overboard. I knocked my head pretty hard on the side of the boat and passed out. I should have been a gonner. But instead I woke up hours later on a rocky outcropping, and _she_ was there."

"She, sir?" Tadashi asks tentatively when the professor pauses, a faraway look in his eyes.

"The woman who would end up becoming my wife," Callaghan answers, looking over at him. "Or, should I say, the mermaid who would end up becoming my wife."

"W-Wait, what?" Tadashi gasps.

"Ooh, plot twist!" Fred cries eagerly.

"You were married to a mermaid?" Hiro asks in disbelief.

"I was indeed," Callaghan answers with a warm smile. "Her name was Rachel. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever met, and also the kindest, the bravest, and the smartest. I've never met her equal since. Of course she knew the danger she was putting herself in by sticking around after rescuing me, but she was just that big hearted-she wanted to make sure that I was alright before she left. I was a bit surprised to find out that mers were real, of course, but after that initial moment of shock I think it was love at first sight. We talked for hours, until I realized that my friend was probably worried sick about me. I asked her if I could come back and see her again when I had my next leave, and she said 'yes'. I'll be honest, I didn't know if she'd actually come, and I wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't-I know now the type of danger mers can put themselves in by revealing themselves to humans. But when I came back about a month later, she was waiting for me where we'd first me, and you can imagine how overjoyed I was to see her again. Every leave after that, I came back to visit her. About six months into the relationship, we shared our first true love's kiss-yes, I know about that, and I can only assume that at least one of you have received it at some point, but we'll come to that later. With no family or reason to stay on land, however, she chose to stay in mer form most of the time, except for the few occasions I could convince her to come explore a bit of the town with me. About a year after that, I proposed. We couldn't have a proper ceremony, of course-I don't know any minister who would have actually believed me for long enough to come and perform a service since Rachel insisted on wanting to do it in the water, as a mer, and as for guests, she didn't have any family left to attend while most everyone I knew couldn't be told for good reason. Still, by then the friend who had brought me here in the first place knew about her and so he married us on his boat. Shortly after that, Rachel became pregnant with Abigail, and so I retired from the Navy, having served my time, in order to come here and start a family with her. I got a job teaching high school science and shop at the local high school, and I bought a house on the coast with a boat shed on the water which I converted so that we could live together, As you have probably all guessed by now, Abigail was born human, but we raised her as best we could with the best parts of both worlds. She was only five when there was the accident."

"The boat crash," Tadashi says softly remembering the bits and pieces he'd heard of the story, although until now he'd never known the full details of it. "You said that your family was out swimming when a boat-"

"It was a hit and run," Callaghan sighs, shaking his head and looking even older than his age indicated. "There was a party on a boat-the person steering was drunk and broke through the rope barriers around our property. Rachel had time to push Abigail out of the way but… She didn't make it. It was dark out, and the driver left before I had a good chance to look at the boat. And how was I supposed to report them even if I had-no one would believe me if I said that a drunken boater had killed my mermaid wife. They would have probably locked me up for being insane. So I buried my wife here and moved Abigail to San Fransokyo, far away from this place that just held too many memories. I continued my robotics work after getting a job at SFIT, and we've been happy there ever since. I'm sad to say that I haven't been able to share my wife's story with Abigail as I have with you today-I told her stories about her when she was younger, but as she got older Abigail stopped believing in mermaids and became angry when she thought I was trying to disrespect her mother's memory. So I've had to let her come to her own conclusions, including believing that the pictures of her mother as a mermaid were because she was an actress and often got work performing as a mermaid. I honestly thought that part of my life was behind me-until I met you, Tadashi."

"M-Me?" Tadashi asks, flushing slightly.

"Yes, you," Callaghan answers with a slight smile. "When I met you on the tour of SFIT. Do you remember when your wheelchair got stuck?"

"Yeah, I do," Tadashi agrees slowly.

"You can imagine my surprise when, as I was getting that piece of bark out of the wheel, I saw a bit of your tail under those blankets and whatever that device was that you had over it-extremely inventive work on the part of whoever came up with that idea, by the way, very well done," Callaghan replies calmly.

"Y-You saw?" Tadashi gasps quietly even as Hiro and Fred beam proudly at the compliment regarding their work-there was no denying the truth at this point, although he was mortified to find out that his professor had found out the truth even after all their hard work to make sure that his secret was kept safe that day.

"Yes, I did, but at the time I thought maybe it was just wishful thinking and I was starting to see things in my old age," Callaghan tells him with a mild chuckle. "Especially when I saw you with legs when you came to the Expo about a month later. When you dived in to save Abigail, though-that's when I knew for sure. The microbots explanation was ingenious, but I know a real tail when I see one."

"W-Why didn't you say anything?" Tadashi asks softly.

"I didn't think it was my place," Callaghan answers. "I decided that if you ever came to me as a confidant then I'd be more than happy to listen and give you advice, but I also knew that if I tried to hint at knowing the truth that you'd probably immediately have stopped trusting me. Thus I decided to support you from afar, stepping in if I thought you needed help and covering for you as needed. I did try to hint at things over time, like telling you about my wife's accident, but I knew that if I tried to tell you the whole story at once you would either think that I was crazy or else that I was trying to lure you into a trap of some sort."

"But you told us the story today!" Hiro points out.

"Because by now it's very obvious that I know your secret and that I don't wish to harm you or else I would have done so by now," Callaghan tells him.

"Oh… Make sense." Hiro agrees with a nod.

"I must admit, I am a bit curious," Callaghan says, glancing down at his legs. "I was under the impression that you were entirely human, but after today…"

"My sixteenth birthday happened," Hiro explains. "Sometimes that can cause new mer features to show up 'cause that's when we 'come of age'!"

"Interesting. Very interesting," Callaghan says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Abigail didn't seem to have any changes of that sort on her sixteenth birthday-unless she did and she never told me."

"It doesn't happen for everyone," Tadashi tells him. "We weren't sure it would happen for Hiro, but we think maybe a platonic true love's kiss might have caused his tail to form. The genes get a little weird when you're only part mer. Like, our mer ancestor was waaay far back in the bloodlines, and most everyone in my family has seemed totally human for generations so we thought it had finally run out, but then out of nowhere I was born as full mer!"

"So there is the possibility that if or when Abigail has children…" Callaghan says slowly, frowning in concentration.

"Given the gene already skipped a generation? One of them could definitely end up having a tail," Hiro finishes for him.

"That could cause some problems," Callaghan sighs. "Especially since she doesn't believe the stories about her mother… I'm not sure how to best prepare her for that possibility…"

"Well, if you think it's becoming a possibility, you can always come to us to help explain things and give support," Tadashi reassures him. "I know what it's like growing up as a mer in a human household, but Hiro helped me to find ways to make it more bearable."

"And then we started creating even more advancements after we met Fred that allowed Dashi to actually leave the pool and go out places before the kiss-like the moisturizer that not only hid Tadashi's tail but kept him from drying out!" Hiro adds before quietly mumbling under his breath, "I still can't believe I didn't think of those things before Fred showed up…"

"It was probably just because you were worried about the danger I might be in if I was out of the pool and someone found me," Tadashi gently reminds him. "And, after today, we have proof that you definitely weren't just paranoid, that there are dangers out there."

"I'd hate to think of any grandson or granddaughter of mine being in danger because of something they didn't even choose," Callaghan says, shaking his head.

"Welcome to the world of how most parents and grandparents of kids in any sort of minority feel," Hiro answers wryly. "Imagine how you'd feel if you had a kid that you had to worry about both because they're gay and they're a mer and either one of those things could potentially put them in danger-combine them and it makes it even worse. That's what our aunt has to live with every day."

"BUT she manages!" Tadashi puts in quickly-they were supposed to be trying to be encouraging right now, not make things seem even worse. "And I'm sure she'd be more than happy to give both you and Abigail advice on raising a mer if you ever want to use her as a resource!"

"Thank you, I'll definitely keep that in mind," Callaghan tells him with a slight smile before suddenly noticing how low the sun was in the sky. "Goodness, I didn't mean to keep you from your friends-I know Hiro said that you were supposed to be meeting them and I'd hate to think that they're worried for you safety!"

"It's all good, I texted them to tell them that we're running a little late!" Fred reassures him.

"And besides, I think this conversation was more than worth it," Tadashi adds, putting a protective arm around Hiro's shoulder. "Again, thank you for saving my brother and his boyfriend-I'm forever indebted to you for that."

"You've more than repaid me with everything you've done for me today," Callaghan answers with a warm smile.

"But we didn't-!" Tadashi starts to protest.

"You gave me advice on how to help any future grandchildren I might have, and you gave an old man someone to tell finally tell his story to. That's more than enough thanks for me," Callaghan says firmly.

"Still…" Tadashi digs the toe of his shoe into the dirt. "How long are you here for?" he suddenly asks.

"For another day or two, maybe. Why do you ask?" Callaghan returns curiously.

"I-I was just thinking that maybe you could come down to the beach to visit us?" Tadashi answers, blushing slightly. "I just-I still feel like I have a lot of questions I want to ask you, and I thought that maybe if it helped you to have someone to actually talk to about all of this stuff…"

"I see." Callaghan's expression softens into the fatherly look he had so often when he looked at the younger man. "If no one else is opposed to the idea, I think that I could spare a few hours tomorrow."

"Sure!" Fred answers, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's waist to reassure him that it was alright. "Come any time! We're staying just down the road from here-if you follow the path until it runs out, you'll find us no problem. If you drop in around noon, we'd even be more than happy to have you join us for lunch!"

"I appreciate the offer of hospitality-I might just take you up on that," Callaghan lightly chuckles before gesturing to the garden gate. "Now, I really shouldn't keep you any longer. I didn't mean to interrupt your trip, and I apologize if I did so."

"Actually, I think you just helped make this trip even more amazing," Fred reassures him, seeing how happy Tadashi was right now and knowing how nice it must be for him to have someone else who really understood to talk to about mer stuff.

The little group starts heading for the garden gate, not wanting the rest of their friends to really start worrying about them. Still, just before they leave, Tadashi turns around one last time and to mouth a heartfelt, "Thank you" to Callaghan.

The professor smiles and shakes his head slightly before answering quietly, "No-Thank _you_."


	6. Chapter 6

****Heavy implied fluff warning****

0o0

After everything that had happened that afternoon, the parties involved were more than eager to get back to the beach house to rest and recover. Unfortunately the other members of their group had no idea what they'd just been through and were expecting to eat dinner so they had to get through supper in the restaurant before they could actually do that. Of course the rest of their party could tell something was up but they couldn't exactly tell them what had happened in a public restaurant (not without either arousing suspicions or sounding completely crazy) and so they were forced to fend off the constant barrage of questions and demands to know what had happened as best they could until they were safely away from prying ears and on their way back to the beach house. Of course there were many details they had to leave out-they weren't sure how much of Callaghan's story they could share since he hadn't given them explicit permission to repeat it, leading to even more frustration and confusion on the part of the listeners. By the time that they were back at their home away from home, it was known by all, though, that Callaghan had rescued Hiro and Ezra from a crazy fisherman after they'd (foolishly, Tadashi didn't fail to point out) gone swimming in the bay, that the professor now knew Tadashi and Hiro's secret, that the secret was apparently safe with him, and that he would be coming by for a visit the next day.

Ezra, who hadn't felt like he had much to contribute to the story after recounting his initial part in the adventure, was more than happy to sink into the background as Tadashi and Fred tackled the majority of the questions. He couldn't help but feel concerned, though, by just how quiet and withdrawn Hiro had become during the retelling, and as soon as they were back at the house he drags him off to his own room while no one was watching, determined to get to the root of the problem.

"Hey," he says softly, pulling his boyfriend gently down onto the bed next to him. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing's wrong!" Hiro answers quickly-a bit too quickly to be natural.

"Hiro, we've been dating for over a year now, I know when something's bothering you," Ezra tells him firmly, taking his hands in his own. "C'mon. You can tell me, whatever it is, and I promise I won't be mad or judge you or whatever it is that you're afraid of."

Hiro refuses to meet his eyes for a full minute, and the blue haired teen is about to think that his efforts are going to turn out to be a lost cause, but then suddenly he finds his boyfriend's hands gripping into his shirt and, before he can really process what's happening, the other teen is sobbing into his chest. At first Ezra is slightly caught off guard and even a bit scared-he'd never actually seen Hiro cry before, and to see him so completely losing it was something he was nowhere near prepared for. But then his fear is replaced by a much stronger urge to protect his boyfriend-to destroy whatever was hurting him and make sure that the man he loved never experienced this kind of pain again. He wraps his arms tightly around the other teen, cradling him close, and whispers gently, "Shh… It's okay. I've got you. I've got you, and nothing can hurt you now."  
Hiro shakes his head, still clutching onto him. "I-I'm so sorry Ez…" he finally manages to get out.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Ezra asks, starting to rub slow, calming circle on his boyfriend's back.

"F-For putting you in d-danger…" Hiro gulps through his tears. "T-That c-crazy old man almost k-kidnapped us… W-What if C-Callghan h-hadn't been there and h-he'd actually t-t-taken us…?"

"But he didn't!" Ezra answers firmly. "And you know what?"

"W-What?" Hiro quietly whimpers.

"Even if Callaghan hadn't shown up, we would have still gotten out of there!"

"H-How?"

"Hiro, are you being serious right now? You're a _genius_ -you started college when you were fourteen for crying out loud! You could have invented something using a paperclip and gum that would have alerted the coast guard to come rescue us!" Ezra tells him, playfully stroking his cheek.

"A p-paperclip and gum? You have a lot of faith in me…" Hiro says, starting to laugh through his tears in spite of himself.

"You could have!" Ezra declares. "And between my dad being a police officer and my Uncle Kallus being a detective, I know tons of stuff about getting out of hostage situations, so even if you'd been knocked out or something I could have figured out a way to rescue us! Between the two of us, that guy didn't stand a chance! Long story short, Hiro, as long as we're together, we're going to be just fine no matter what situation we get into, okay?"

"O-okay," Hiro agrees, actually smiling now as he looks up at his boyfriend.

"There's that smile I love," Ezra says warmly, gently starting to wipe the remains of the tears away with his thumb.

"T-thank you, Ez…" Hiro breathes, nuzzling up against his chest.

"For what?" Ezra asks.

"F-For making me feel better…" Hiro answers with a smile, pulling back to gaze up at him with those gorgeous brown eyes that always made his boyfriend want to just get lost in them forever. "For… Well, for everything. I'm the luckiest boyfriend in the world to have someone as amazing as you caring about me…"

"Nope, you can't be the luckiest because I've already got that title claimed!" Ezra answers, playfully pecking the other man's nose.

"E-Ez!" Hiro giggles, trying to pull away.

"Does that tickle?" Ezra asks, grinning and kissing him there again.

"S-Stop it!" Hiro laughs, squirming in his arms.

"Nope!" Ezra declares, starting to pepper his entire face with butterfly kisses, making his boyfriend giggle uncontrollably. As hard as Hiro was fighting to escape, his boyfriend ends up rolling over to playfully pin him down to the bed. The blue haired teen didn't even realize the situation he'd gotten them into until he broke for breath from the passionate kiss that Hiro eventually pulled him into to make him stop and suddenly he found himself staring down at the man he loved in a position he'd only been able to dream about for so long.

"E-Ez…" Hiro gasps quietly as he stares up at him, pupils dilated, his soft breath an absolutely intoxicating perfume as it reaches his boyfriend's nose.

"H-Hiro…" Ezra could feel the other man's heart beating in his chest like a tiny hummingbird-so delicate and yet so strong. He'd never looked more beautiful. And, if he wanted him, Ezra could have had him in an instant. And he wanted him. Oh, he wanted him so badly. He-NO! .

Finally some semblance of sense returns to Ezra, and he starts to push himself off of the other teen. He couldn't do this to Hiro! He loved him, and so he couldn't take advantage of him like this! He'd never be able to live with himself if he did.

"H-Hiro, I-I'm sorry-!" he starts to apologize, cheeks bright red. But then suddenly, to his great surprise, Hiro was grabbing his shirt, pulling him back down.

"No," the other man breathes. "K-Keep going."

"Hiro…" Ezra's whole body was aching for him now, but he couldn't yet-not until he knew for sure.

"I-Is this what you really want?" he manages to get out. "T-This isn't just something you're wanting to do in the heat of the moment but you'll regret later?"

"Ezra." Hiro gives him the crooked, gap-toothed smile that he loved so much. "I love you with all of my heart, and I know you're the only one I ever want to do this with. D-Don't you want me?" A look of uncertainty and slight fear crosses his face as he looks up at his boyfriend.

"Oh, Hiro," Ezra gasps, pressing a kiss to the soft skin where Hiro's jaw met his neck, making the other man's breath hitch violently. "I want you," he whispers when he pulls away, looking down into his boyfriend's gorgeous eyes. "I want every part of you. And I want you to have all of me to, if you'll have me."

"I will," Hiro answers, beaming up at him and absolutely _glowing_. "Come on," he adds, playfully starting to undo the button of his boyfriend's shorts and rolling his hips down. "If we're going to do this, let's do this right."

"Right!" Ezra agrees, beaming as he pulls the other man into an open mouthed kiss, fumbling with Hiro's shorts and knowing that this was going to be the most amazing night of his life.

"What's that sound?" Tadashi asks, coming to a stop just outside the door to Ezra's room-he and Fred had finally noticed that the two teens had disappeared and decided to go check on them. Their first thought had been to check their rooms, and by the sounds of muffled voices, the elder Hamada had a pretty good idea that they'd found them, but there were also some strange noises that he couldn't identify. Just as he was reaching for the doorknob to try to figure out what was going on in there, though, his boyfriend suddenly grabs his hand and says,

"I don't think you want to do that."

"What? Why not?" Tadashi asks, frowning over at him. "I want to check on Hiro and make sure he's okay!"

"Trust me, I think he's more than 'okay'," the fanboy answers, a tiny smirk making its way onto his face.

"What do you mean by that?" Tadashi demands. "Fred, what do you know that I don't?"

"I think it should be pretty obvious, Dashi," his boyfriend responds, raising an eyebrow.

"Well it isn't!" Tadashi huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Either you're being ridiculously dense right now or you're just in some pretty major denial," Fred answers, giving him a sympathetically amused smile.

"Fred, so help me, if you don't stop trying to be the next Yoda and start giving me some straight answers…" Tadashi growls.

"Guess I'm going to have to spell it out for you," Fred quietly sighs, putting his hands on his boyfriend's shoulders. "Dashi, brace yourself, but our little bro is becoming a man tonight."

"Wait, what?" Tadashi blinks rapidly, as if trying to process what his boyfriend had just said, and then suddenly his eyes go wide with understanding. "Wait, are you saying- Oh my gosh, Hiro…? ...And Ezra? They're…?"

"Love, breathe, you look like you're about to pass out," Fred tells him firmly, starting to pull him off down the hallway and away from the door.

"But they- They're so young! No, Fred, I can't let Hiro-!" Tadashi cries, struggling against his boyfriend's grip.

"Tadashi." Fred takes him firmly by the shoulders. "This is your brother's choice. You know that Hiro and Ezra love each other, right?"

"...Right," Tadashi mumbles. "But Hiro's my otouto! I can't just-!"

"Do you think Hiro was thrilled when he found out that I was banging his precious nii-chan last year?"

"...No…"

"But he respected our decision that we knew it was the right time for us, and he was as supportive as he could be. It's up to him and Ezra to know when the right time is for them, and apparently tonight is that time. And we owe it to Hiro-to both of them-to be as supportive of them as Hiro was of us."

"I-I guess so…" Tadashi sighs, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "That doesn't make it any easier, though…"

"I know it doesn't," Fred says sympathetically. "Do you think maybe it would help to get your mind off of it?"

"Maybe…" Tadashi answers uncertainly.

"Y'know, we could reenact our own first time since we're here…" Fred tells him, playfully putting his hands on his boyfriend's hips.

"I appreciate that, sweetheart, but somehow I think I'd just feel weird doing that knowing that my little brother was getting laid just upstairs…" Tadashi admits.

"I totally get that!" Fred nods in understanding. "Okay, Disney movies and light cuddling sound good?"

"That sound perfect!" Tadashi agrees with a grateful smile.

"C'mon, let's go then," Fred says with a warm smile of his own and gently leading him towards the stairs.

"I love you, you know that?"

"Oh yes, I am quite aware of that!"

"Good. And you love me even though I get majorly overprotective and freak out sometimes?"

"You know I do, Dashi. Now and always."

Hiro wakes up the next morning to find pale light filtering in through the window, his memories of the previous night extremely fuzzy but feeling like he'd just had the most amazing night of sleep in his life. Gradually he becomes aware of a pair of strong arms wrapped around him, and at first he thinks it's Tadashi because his brother did like to cuddle and who else could it be? But then slowly he realizes that the fact that neither he nor whoever he was in bed with appeared to be wearing any clothes, so either somehow he had gotten majorly wasted last night without having any memory of it and things had gotten seriously weird, or else…

He turns his head ever so slightly, letting out a tiny gasp when he spots Ezra sleeping peacefully next to him. OH GOSH. Last night-it hadn't been a dream? They'd actually…?

Wow… Despite the fact that his heart was racing in his chest and his cheeks were flushing bright pink as memory after memory of their night of passion comes flooding back to him, he finds himself feeling oddly and ridiculously safe and content right curled up here in his boyfriend's arms. Ezra had been so sweet and gentle last night, asking him every step of the way if he was okay before going any further, truly making love to him, not just having sex. And waking up here in the arms of the man he loved, Hiro knew that he never wanted to wake up next to anyone else for the rest of his life.

Eventually Ezra stirs to wakefulness, a sleepy smile crossing his face as he looks down and sees his boyfriend lying there. "Morning," he breathes.

"Good morning," Hiro answers softly, grinning and gently pecking his lips.

"Did you sleep well?" Ezra asks, yawning before carefully adjusting his grip on his boyfriend to cuddle him closer.

"Definitely," Hiro agrees, turning so that he could wrap his arms around the other man. "You?"

"Amazingly," Ezra reassures him, gently kissing him on the forehead before beaming down at him. "Wow… I can't believe we actually…"

"Me neither," Hiro admits, a rosy blush crossing his cheeks. "W-Was it everything you hoped it would be?"

"It was _better_ ," Ezra answers with a grin. "You?"

"Same!" Hiro grins back at him.

"You're very handsome, you know," Ezra says, playfully reaching out a hand to stroke his boyfriend's bare chest.

Hiro lets out an embarrassed squeak before mumbling, "Y-You too…"

"Sorry, too much?" Ezra asks, quickly removing his hand.

"N-No!" Hiro hurries to reassure him. "Just… You're going to make me start to… Y'know…"

"I turn you on that easily?" Ezra gently teases him.

"P-Pretty much…" Hiro mumbles, burying his face into his boyfriend's neck to hide his embarrassment.

"Hey, hey, it's okay-I'm just playing," Ezra says, gently tilting the other man's chin up so that he was looking at him. "Look, last night was amazing, but I understand if you're not ready to do it again any time soon. We'll take this however slow or fast you want to, okay?"

"Thank you…" Hiro smiles gratefully up at him.

"You're welcome." Ezra gently kisses him on the cheek. "Now, how about we get dressed and go get some breakfast, huh?"

"Sounds good," Hiro agrees.

"Okay then." Ezra grins and kisses him again before getting up and heading over to the dresser to find fresh clothes for the day. Hiro, for his part, does his best not to stare at his boyfriend's gorgeous naked form as he searches for his own clothes. He found his boxers and shorts quickly, but somehow his shirt had disappeared. At one point he thinks that he's found it tangled up in the blankets, only for it to turn out to be Ezra's. He's about to discard it, only to smile as an idea comes to him, and he slips the t-shirt on over his head. It was a bit big, but it smelled like his boyfriend and it almost felt like wearing a hug from him.

"Ez, what do you think?" he asks, grinning playfully as he tugs on his boyfriend's sleeve.

"Hm?" Ezra looks down at him in surprise, only for his eyes to go wide and a rather unmanly squeal to escape his mouth.

"I'll take it you like it?" Hiro laughs.

"You. Are. ADORABLE!" Ezra squeaks before suddenly scooping the other teen up into his arms and spinning him around, making Hiro laugh. Usually he hated being called "adorable" or "cute" by most people, but somehow he didn't mind it if Ezra was the one doing it.

"Do I need to take this off so I don't distract you all day today?" he gently teases his boyfriend when he finally sets him down.

"I don't care if you're distracting me, you are wearing it!" Ezra laughs.

"Good!" Hiro grins and pecks him on the cheek before eagerly tugging on his hand as his own stomach starts growling. "Now c'mon, let's go get breakfast, I'm starved!"

"Same!" Ezra agrees, more than willingly following after him.

It wasn't until they were entering the kitchen and Hiro spotted Tadashi sitting calmly at the table, drinking coffee and reading the local newspaper and somehow looking very much like a dad figure, that the afterglow of the previous night's events starts to wear off and he suddenly realizes something. He hadn't returned to their room the previous night. And here he was, entering the kitchen with Ezra, wearing the other man's shirt, and acting like a giddy fool. Oh. He. Was. SCREWED.

"Good morning," Tadashi says, looking up from the paper and raising an eyebrow when he sees the two of them. "I'll take it you two had a good time last night."

"D-Dashi, I can explain-!" Hiro starts to cry, just as Ezra stammers out,

"T-Tadashi, d-don't blame Hiro, it was all my idea-!"

Before either of them can finish a sentence, the older man puts up a hand to stop them. "Look, I do not want to know the details. Actually, I don't want to know _anything_ about it. You two know when it's the right time for you to move forward on certain things in your relationship, and I trust you both to be responsible so I won't question your judgment."

"You're being… Awfully calm about all of this," Hiro says slowly.

"Honestly, I wanted to go in there and break you two apart last night when I realized what you were doing, but Fred talked me down and convinced me not to, so you can have him to thank for this," Tadashi replies, taking another sip from his mug.

"...Are you sure that he didn't slip something in your coffee this morning?" Hiro asks, eyeing the drink suspiciously.

"Fairly sure!" Tadashi chuckles.

"Wait-H-How did last night you two already know that we were… Well, y'know?" Ezra mumbles, trying to phrase his question in the least awkward way possible but still blushing all the same.

"Oh, trust me, anyone who went near your room last night knew," Fred says, smirking playfully as he comes into the kitchen and joins Tadashi at the table.

"A-Anyone?" Hiro stammers. "B-But how-?"

"You weren't exactly being quiet about it," Fred chuckles. "Oh, stop looking so horrified, it was your first time, everyone's loud when they start out!" he laughs when he sees the absolutely flabbergasted expressions on the teens' faces. "You just learn to be quieter when you're somewhere where others can hear you!"

"D-Does everyone know?" Hiro moans, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"I can't guarantee anything, but possibly…" Fred admits with an apologetic smile.

"Great. Just great. Someone just run me over with a bus already!" Hiro groans.

"Hiro." Ezra takes his hands in his own. "I-I can't say I love the idea of everyone knowing what we did either, but think about this-are you ashamed of what we did?"

"N-No, of course not!"

"And neither am I, so we don't have anything to really be embarrassed about! Fred and Dashi are being super nice and supportive about all of this, and they're the ones we were most worried about. Knowing Wasabi, he's not going to say anything even if he did. Honey Lemon would probably just think it's 'cute' or something! And if GoGo says anything off color-"

"I will punch her into tomorrow," Tadashi states flatly.

"See? We're totally good!" Ezra says, having a hard time believing that the elder Hamada would actually use physical violence on anyone, but the thought was nice all the same.

"I-I guess you're right…" Hiro agrees with a tentative smile.

"Of course I'm right!" Ezra tells him with a grin. "Now c'mon, let's sit down and have some breakfast and stop worrying about it, okay?"

"Sounds good," Hiro admits, taking the seat next to him as Fred brings over the pans of scrambled eggs and bacon.

All of Ezra's predictions came true. Wasabi seemed to be avoiding eye contact with either of them, but other than that he didn't treat them any different than usual. Honey Lemon seemed to have a bad case of the giggles and kept grinning at the couple, but she didn't say anything either. The closest they came to having any problems was when GoGo came into the kitchen and leaned against the doorpost, staring both teens down before coming over to the table and saying simply, "So. You two. Last night."

"Yep," Ezra agrees, trying to appear nonchalant about it.

"Any good?"

"You have no idea how good."

"All right then." GoGo nods and then heads to her chair, not saying anything more about it.

Still, despite the lack of controversy, the two teens make a break for the beach as soon as breakfast is over and they've had a chance to go change into their swimsuits. The others soon followed their example-all except Tadashi. Fred was surprised when he comes out of his room from changing to find his boyfriend sitting in the living room, his eyes trained on the front door and one of his feet bouncing up and down with a nervous sort of rhythm.

"Dashi? What are you doing in here?" he asks, coming over to him. "I thought you'd be out in the ocean by now!"

"O-oh!" Tadashi blushes when he looks up at him. "Y-Yeah, I guess I should be, I just…"  
"Are you waiting for Professor Callaghan?" the fanboy asks, a tiny smirk on his face.

"M-Maybe…" Tadashi mumbles.

"Look, sweetie, I'm not jealous of your little man crush on him, but you really shouldn't waste the day just because you don't know when he's going to get here-"

"He's not my man crush!" Tadashi cries, cheeks turning even brighter red.

"Sure he's not…" Fred playfully drawls.

"Fred, PLEASE!" Tadashi groans in frustration. "I get enough of this at SFIT, I don't need it from you too!"

"...What do you mean you 'get enough of this at SFIT'?" Fred asks slowly, frowning in concern when he sees just how agitated his boyfriend is.

"Nothing, forget I said anything," Tadashi mumbles.

"Dashi, this doesn't sound like nothing," Fred says, sitting down next to him and taking one of his hands in his own. "C'mon, talk to me."

"I just… There are a bunch of stupid rumors going around that the only reason I do so well in Callaghan's classes and we're so close because… Because I sleep with him to get good grades," Tadashi mumbles, not able to meet his boyfriend's gaze.

"They're. Saying. _WHAT?!_ " Fred cries, instantly feeling rage kindling in his chest. "H-How can they even-?! Dashi, I'm sooo sorry, I had no idea! H-Have you tried talking to someone about this?"

"Yes, I have, and they said that there's nothing they can legally do if it's just stupid rumors," Tadashi sighs. "I-It's so messed up…"

"It is!" Fred agrees, wanting to pound whoever was hurting his sweet, innocent boyfriend into pulp. "Y-You know that I don't believe a word of that, right?" he adds softly.

"Thank you." Tadashi gratefully kisses his cheek. "I mean, maybe it seems weird to outsiders that I'm so close to him, but… He's the closest thing to a dad I've ever had, y'know? How can I not want that?"

"Trust me, I completely understand," Fred reassures, thinking of his own father who was extremely distant to him, both emotionally and geographically. "I think it's amazing that you can relate to him like that, and I think the people coming up with those stupid rumors are just jealous!"

"R-Really?" Tadashi asks, flashing him an uncertain smile.

"Definitely!" Fred declares before adding, "And hey, if it makes you happy to wait in here for him, I say go for it! And if you want some company, I don't mind waiting with you!"

Tadashi seems to consider this before finally saying, "Y'know what? No. You were right-let's not waste today. I'll just see him whenever he gets here."

"You sure?" Fred asks.

"Definitely!" Tadashi agrees, standing up and pulling the fanboy with him. "C'mon, I'll race you down to the water!"

"You are so on!" Fred laughs, eagerly chasing after his boyfriend.

It wasn't until a little bit after noon when a familiar form appears far back on the beach. Everyone was engaged in an extremely intense game of Marco Polo at the time, so it wasn't a surprise that it took them a while to notice him, but Fred is the first to spot him.

"Dashi," he whispers, gently nudging his boyfriend and nodding towards the beach. "He's here!"

"He is?" Tadashi's head instantly whips around and he practically lights up when he sees the older man. "Oh my gosh, he is!"

Fred couldn't help but lightly chuckle-he could almost picture his boyfriend as a little boy, seeing his father coming home from work and rushing to meet him. It was an adorable mental picture, and it did his heart good to see Tadashi so happy-he deserved it with everything he'd been through.

"Go on." The fanboy gently nudges him. "I'll tell the others where you went. Have fun with your father-son bonding time, okay?"

"Thank you." Tadashi lovingly pecks him on the cheek before switching into human form and hurrying towards shore.

"Sensei!" he happily greets his professor when he reaches him.

"Why am I not surprised to see that you're spending all your free time in the ocean while you're here?" Callaghan chuckles with a warm smile.

"It's in my blood," Tadashi answers with an unapologetic shrug.

"That it is," Callaghan agrees, gently ruffling the mer's hair and making him feel for a moment like he really was his son.

"So, I think you said yesterday that you had some more questions for me," the professor continues. "And I must admit, I have some questions of my own for you, if you don't mind answering them-maybe we can take turns."

"Oh, of course!" Tadashi agrees, nodding eagerly.

"Wonderful. Do you have somewhere in mind where we could sit and talk?" Callaghan asks.

"Actually, I do," Tadashi admits. "It's a bit of a walk, but if you don't mind, I promise it's worth it!"

"I may look like an old man, but I've still got a few good miles left in me," Callaghan answers with a wry chuckle. "Lead the way."

"Right!" Tadashi grins and waves for him to follow him. "C'mon, it's this way!"

About ten minutes later, they reach the cove, and the older man looks around approvingly. "This looks like the sort of place Rachel would have loved," he says with a warm smile.

"I guess mers have similar tastes," Tadashi laughs, silently wondering if maybe there was any chance that he might be distantly related to her-that might explain the seemingly sporadic occurrence of two mers living in a fairly close area. It wouldn't hurt to try to look into it someday, although he had a feeling tracing mer genealogy would be much harder than tracing that of a human. Maybe gene testing, then, comparing a sample of his blood with Abigail's?

He was interrupted out of his thoughts by Callaghan saying, "As beautiful as the view is, I know you and I suspect that there's more to your choice of location than just aesthetics."

"And you'd be right to suspect that," Tadashi admits with a wry, if somewhat shy smile. "I-I realized that you've seen Hiro in mer form, but outside of that tiny bit at the Expo you've never really seen me like that… I-I thought that maybe if it's something you wanted to see… Not that we have to do this if it's too weird-!" Oh great, he was rambling now.

Fortunately, Callaghan cuts him mercifully short. "Tadashi, I know how important your secret is to you, and if you trust me enough to share this with me, I would be honored."

"O-Okay!" Tadashi flashes him a grateful smile before diving into the water, surfacing a few moments later with his tail fully formed.

"Amazing." The mer finds himself blushing with pride at his mentor's slightly awed expression. "Absolutely amazing."

After getting over the initial slight shock, the two settle down to talking, Tadashi staying in mer form even though he did pull himself up onto land to make conversing easier. Somehow along the way the younger man found himself spilling his entire life story to the professor, from his parents early abandonment of him to all those years spent stuck in the pool.

"I can't imagine anyone doing something like that to their own child," Callaghan growls at one point. "Being mer isn't something you could choose, and even if it was, what ever happened to unconditional love?"

"I guess they loved me in the only way they knew how…" Tadashi says, repeating what Aunt Cass had told him many times, but without much conviction.

"That doesn't make it any better or any less traumatizing for you," Callaghan states firmly. "And I feel like I need to apologize to you on behalf of the parents of the world for what they did."

"Thank you…" Tadashi mumbles, ducking his head but feeling a bit of a warm glow coming into his chest all the same.

"You know," Callaghan finally says after a few minutes of companionable silence, "I always thought that there was something about you that reminded me of my wife, but I couldn't figure it out until now. But I think I finally figured out-it's your tail."

"M-My tail? You mean the fact that we're both mer?" Tadashi says uncertainly.

"That, and the fact that yours is the same color as hers-hers was silver too," Callaghan explains.

"O-Oh…" Tadashi nods, not really sure what to do with that information.

"I'd like to think that, if we'd ever had a son, he would have been a lot like you," Callaghan adds with a warm smile. "In many ways, you almost feel like the son I never had to me."

Tadashi feels a smile spreading across his face as he quietly admits, "Y-You're kind of like the dad I never really had…"

"Really?" Callaghan smiles warmly down at him. "Well, I'm honored that you feel that way about me."

"Yeah?" Tadashi smile shyly up at him.

"Of course. I can't imagine who wouldn't be honored to have such a kind, brilliant young man consider them a father figure," Callaghan tells him.

"T-Thank you, sensei," Tadashi whispers before suddenly wrapping his arms around him in an impetuous hug. If Callaghan was at all uncomfortable with it, he didn't show it, instead just returning the gesture. And, for the first time, Tadashi felt like the empty space in his heart that had been missing it's most important piece for so long was finally filled.

All in all, the group agreed as they started packing to return home a few days later, this trip had gone nothing like any of them could have ever imagined. There had been unexpected twists and turns-danger and fun, impossible chance encounters and encounters of a very different type. Adventures had been had, and existing bonds of all types had been strengthened while new ones had been created. Looking back on it all as the week draws to a close and they head back to San Fransokyo, though, they agree that despite all of the surprises it had been the best trip any of them could remember going on and that they couldn't wait to come back next year.

~Fin


End file.
